


The Unintended Consequences of Protecting One's Pride

by waltzforthemoon



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pride and Prejudice Fusion, Dancing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, rated T for strong language in some instances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26195971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waltzforthemoon/pseuds/waltzforthemoon
Summary: Cloud really didn’t care what anyone said about his looks. Really.…So why was he still thinking about Squall’s comments three days after the ball?“Not handsome enough to tempt me."What does that even mean? What an arrogant bastard. So full of himself that he thinks someone needs to be handsome enough to be able to dance with him. As if I would even WANT to dance with someone like that!
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart, Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Squall Leonhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -This pride & prejudice-inspired piece takes elements from kingdom hearts, ff7, and ff8 but doesn't actually take place in any of those universes--but rather an alternate universe in which KH and FF towns coexist in one world  
> -Squall and Cloud are their respective KH2 ages here  
> -While the first part of this fic is obviously inspired by Pride & Prejudice, this is not a direct P&P adaptation/Regency AU–just so no one gets disappointed! lol but the spirit of P&P is there throughout Squall & Cloud’s dynamic and I take this AU to some fun places that I hope my readers enjoy! :D

Zell Dincht and Squall Leonhart were the two new mysterious figures in Radiant Garden who had become the occupants of a mansion on the outskirts of the town. Tonight was their public debut in Radiant Garden society as they attended the annual Summer Solstice ball.

“Can I go home now?” Squall groaned, just minutes after they had arrived.

Zell raised an eyebrow and frowned at Squall. “We just got here! We have to dance at least a couple times before we leave. And also…look at all the food!”

Squall huffed out a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Fine, go entertain yourself and come get me when you’re ready to leave.”

+

“I heard that they are in SeeD, elite military agents assigned to Radiant Garden for a year,” Tifa told Cloud as they watched the duo walk through the hall, decked out in their blue and silver SeeD uniforms.

Aerith added, “I heard they get paid pretty well—enough to afford living in a mansion, apparently.”

“So they’re just two rich guys—who cares?” Cloud muttered as he had his arms folded across his chest.

Tifa giggled. “You know, you say that… but you might actually have something in common! Look at that one with the scar on his face—doesn’t he look just like Cloud, scowling like every minute is killing him to be here?”  
  
Aerith had glanced at the man and giggled. “Cloud, you should go and talk to him! Or you can both stand in a corner silently and brood together.”

Cloud looked at the man in question, who was standing beside his friend—who seemed to be a chatterbox—sipping on a drink, looking like he was bored out of his mind. Cloud almost felt sorry for him, because he could relate. He hated balls.

+

Not long after Squall had planted himself in a safe corner where no one might ask him to dance, did he see Zell rush to him with a smile on his face—and for a second, hope fluttered in his chest that they were about to leave—but Zell looked far too happy for this to be the case.

“Squall, come with me! I just met two girls—Aerith Gainsborough and Tifa Lockhart—and they have a single friend, his name’s Cloud Strife!”

Squall raised an eyebrow as Zell pulled him away from his corner. “And?”

“And? You should totally ask him to dance! He’s one of the most handsome guys here.”

Squall looked over to where Zell was pointing not very far away at all, eyeing a blonde man who looked as bored as Squall felt.

“Well, what do you think?”

“Not handsome enough to tempt me,” Squall stoically replied.

Zell’s mouth dropped as he frowned. “You didn’t even get a good look at him! Come on, let’s go introduce ourselves.”

+

Cloud wished he didn’t have such good hearing—but his curiosity was piqued when he heard someone mention his name—but then, of course, he had to hear that guy Squall Leonhart comment on how handsome he was—or wasn’t.

“What’s wrong, Cloud?” Tifa asked.

“Nothing,” Cloud said, trying to clear the frown on his face.

“What is it?” Aerith asked, her brow wrinkled in worry.

“That guy, Squall… he seems to not think I’m handsome enough for him,” Cloud said with a scoff.

“What?! He doesn’t have any taste if he can say that about you!” Tifa added.

Cloud knitted his brows in annoyance. “It’s fine. I don’t care what some random asshole thinks about me.”

“Oh! You again!” Aerith exclaimed. Cloud glanced up and saw that both of the SeeD members had come up to them.

“Hi, Aerith, Tifa—I wanted to properly introduce myself to your friend. I’m Zell Dincht!” Zell reached out a hand and grinned brightly at Cloud.

“Cloud Strife,” Cloud responded as he shook his hand. Then he turned his eyes to Squall, who still looked as stoic as ever.

“This is Squall Leonhart, my friend and coworker—and roommate!” Zell cheerfully introduced.

“Pleased to meet you,” Squall said as he bowed with his arms stiffly held at his sides.

Aerith and Tifa politely curtsied in their ballgowns and Cloud raised a judging eyebrow. 

_Does he… not like shaking hands?_

“Well…this is fun, huh?” Zell said to break the awkward silence. “Oh, the music’s starting!” Then he brightly looked to Aerith. “Aerith, could I steal you for a dance, if that’s alright with your girlfriend?”

“Just as long as you give her back,” Tifa said with a polite chuckle.

Aerith kissed her on the cheek. “We’ll have the next dance!”

As Aerith and Zell left to join the lively group dance, Cloud, Tifa, and Squall were left standing together in an awkward silence. Cloud didn’t want to break it, and Squall looked as if he didn’t want to talk for the next century.

“So, Squall… Have you danced with anyone here yet?” Tifa asked him.

“No.”

Tifa cleared her throat at the short response and smiled at Squall. “Well, Cloud here hasn’t, either. Maybe you two should—”

“I don’t think I’m handsome enough to tempt him, Tifa,” Cloud interrupted.

Squall’s eyes widened and he didn’t say anything—though it was clear he was mortified that his insulting comment had been overheard by Cloud.

“I’ll go get you another drink,” Cloud told Tifa before walking away—but not before sending a dark glare at Squall. 

+

Cloud really didn’t care what anyone said about his looks. Really. 

…So why was he still thinking about Squall’s comments three days after the ball?

_“Not handsome enough to tempt me.”_

_What does that even mean? What an arrogant bastard. So full of himself that he thinks someone needs to be handsome enough to be able to dance with him. As if I would even WANT to dance with someone like that!_

“What’s wrong, Cloud?” Tifa asked him that morning. 

Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith all shared a small apartment as roommates. It was close quarters, but at least Tifa and Aerith got too engrossed in each other sometimes that Cloud had plenty of alone time. Except for this morning, apparently.

“Nothing,” Cloud brusquely replied.

Aerith came and joined him and Tifa at the dining room table. She clapped her hands together and had a grin on her face. “You won’t believe the news I just heard from my visit into town! There’s going to be another ball this weekend—and our new neighbors, Zell and Squall, are hosting! Isn’t that exciting?”

“No,” Cloud replied.

Tifa raised an eyebrow. “Cloud…”

“Can’t wait ’til those rich assholes realize they don’t belong here and go back to the city where they came from,” Cloud muttered.

“Hey! Zell is really nice!” Aerith protested. “His friend, on the other hand…”

Cloud got up and crossed his arms. “What even is his deal? Is he so narcissistic he thinks that no one is good enough to dance with him?”

“Oh, Cloud… are you still thinking about what he said about you?” Tifa asked.

“No!”

Tifa softly laughed. “Clearly, you are…”

Aerith’s eyes brightened and she grinned at Cloud. “I have an idea! Let’s go to the ball and show everyone just how _handsome_ you can be! Then everyone will be dying to dance with you—even Squall Leonhart won’t be able to resist asking you for a dance—and then you can tell that jerk ‘no’ and shove it in his face!”

Tifa met eyes with Aerith, and it seemed like Aerith telepathically relayed whatever plan she had—because then Tifa had a matching excited look on her face. “That’s such a great idea, Aerith!”

“I know,” Aerith said with a sly wink. 

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?” Cloud slowly began to back up, looking for an escape.

“Cloud, this is going to be so much fun!” Aerith had hooked her arm around his and Tifa showed up at his other side, grinning up at him.

“When we’re done with you, you will absolutely be the belle of the ball!” Tifa cheerfully told him.

Cloud sighed and hung his head. There was no use resisting.

+

“Another ball…? Is that really necessary? And does it have to be here?” Squall was mortified when he heard the news.

“Yeah! We need to be able to get to know everyone better!” Zell argued. “Plus, the hot dogs they had catered at that last ball… so delicious! I think I managed to eat a dozen! I’ll have to have them at our ball!”

“So just order some if you want to eat that many hot dogs at a time so badly.” Squall crossed his arms. “You don’t need to host a ball for that.”

Zell chuckled. “Lighten up, Squall!”

“Ugh,” Squall let out with a roll of his eyes.

“That last ball wasn’t all so bad, was it?”

“You’re right—the best part of the night was leaving,” Squall replied.

Zell put his hands on his hips. “Come on, if we’re going to be neighbors with everyone here, we need to make a good impression. It’s not like you tried very hard at the last ball.”

Squall sighed. “If I try to be more social this time, do you promise never to host another one of these?”

Zell grinned. “Only if I actually see you dance with at least one person—even if you don’t think they’re ‘handsome enough to tempt you.’”

Squall rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

He thought back to the last ball… It wasn’t really that he didn’t think that anyone there was handsome enough for him to dance with. He hated balls—and he especially hated dancing at balls. You’d think that after years of having to attend things like this every once in a while, the anxious sweating and random heart palpitations would stop, but apparently not, even in his mid-twenties. In all honesty, there is no one in the world who would have been handsome enough to tempt Squall to dance at a ball—but now due to his blunder, Squall had seemed to make an enemy out of that man, Cloud Strife.

Squall did regret his words—but more so that Cloud had overheard him. It was quickly said without thought, an excuse to deflect Zell’s suggestion that he ask the man to dance. Squall had never meant to say that Cloud wasn’t handsome, because he was—and he was even more handsome once he had a closer look at him. But the damage was done and Squall could only hope he never came face to face with Cloud again.

+

Cloud thought that wearing a dress was going to be a one-time thing in his life, but here he was again—dressed in a sparkling blue and black ballgown, hair done up with a high quality wig, his face full of makeup—and he was even wearing a corset and high heels.

It was the night of the SeeD members’ ball, and Cloud had half a mind to run all the way back home immediately. Standing in front of that mansion dressed the way he was, Cloud began to nervously sweat. 

“I don’t think I can do this…” Cloud shook his head and turned around.

“No!” Aerith and Tifa grabbed both his arms as they turned him back around.

“Don’t worry—you look beautiful,” Tifa acknowledged as she gently brushed a strand of hair out of Cloud’s eyes.

“You really think so?” Cloud asked.

Tifa vigorously nodded as she helped Aerith lead him up the stairs to the main entrance of the house. 

As Cloud walked in, he felt that all eyes were on him and he heard the hushed whispers of people exclaiming, “Who is she?!” Cloud felt himself blush out of feeling flattered, but forgot it as soon as Tifa and Aerith split off on their own, headed toward the dance floor.

“Tifa! Aerith!” Cloud whispered through his teeth. “You can't leave me alone!”

“You’ll be fine, Cloud!” Aerith called out while she gave him a thumbs up.

Cloud huffed out a sigh and then turned around to look for somewhere to sit—when he was met face to face with Squall Leonhart. He was wearing a different SeeD uniform this time, with a much more ornate design on his black jacket.

Cloud gasped, and then remembered he should not speak too much. “Oh—Excuse me—“

“Forgive me for startling you,” Squall told him. Then he stretched out a hand. “May I have this dance?”

Cloud’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe Aerith and Tifa’s plan actually worked—and out of all people—Squall Leonhart was the first person to ask him to dance.

Cloud remembered what he was here for, and narrowed his eyes as he curtly responded, “No, you may not.”

Squall awkwardly touched at his neck. “Oh… Have I offended you somehow?”

Cloud just let out a scoff. “Just treating you with the same level of manners you treat others with.”

“Excuse me?” Squall said with a furrow of his brow.

Cloud frowned. “At the last ball, you sure felt free to judge other peoples’ looks—and apparently no one was attractive enough for you to dance with them.”

Squall narrowed his eyes, as if he were trying to study Cloud’s face. “…Have we met before?“

“Take a better look,” Cloud told Squall as he stared him down. “Am I handsome enough to tempt you now?”

Squall’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”

Cloud put his hands on his hips as he glared at Squall. “Yeah, dumbass. It’s me.”

Squall’s face reddened. “I… didn’t mean for you to hear what I said at that ball.”

“You still meant to say it.”

“Well—“

“Oh, Squall—wow, is this your dancing partner?!” It was Zell Dincht who had intruded on the conversation.

“ _NO._ ” 

Both Squall and Cloud had said it at the same time, and followed up with an awkward glance at each other.

Zell’s face blanked. “Do you two know each other? Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever met you, Miss…”

“Strife.” But as soon as he said it, Cloud winced at his mistake.

“Strife? Is Cloud your brother?”

“Uh—he’s my twin. I’m… Claudia,” Cloud replied while turning away from Zell, feigning shyness. “Anyway, I think I’ll get going—“

“You’re really going to leave her hanging, bro?” Zell told Squall.

Squall groaned, “I told you not to call me ‘bro’—and, um…”

“I don’t care to dance with someone who doesn’t have manners,” Cloud cut off as he was still turned away from them both.

“Damn, Squall… what did you do?” Zell asked.

Squall apparently had no explanation and kept silent.

Cloud then felt a hand on his elbow, and it was Zell who had tugged him to turn around and face him. “Miss Claudia Strife, as host of this ball, I would gladly—“

Squall put out a hand in protest. “No, that’s not necessary—“

“I insist!” Zell told Cloud. Then he turned to his friend. “Unless… you really want to dance with her, Squall?”

“I…” Squall stared at Cloud and Cloud saw his face redden.

Zell chuckled and smiled at Cloud. “I promise that Squall really isn’t all that bad of a guy. You just gotta get to know him—and what better way than with a dance?”

Zell took Cloud by the hand and practically thrust him at Squall, who caught him by the elbows—although now they were face to face, noses nearly brushing.

After a few seconds, Squall backed up from Cloud, still holding him steady by his arms. “Zell’s gone. You can leave now.”

Although Cloud was tempted, he didn’t want to chance running into the overly friendly host again—especially after having just lied to him about his identity. 

“No—You asked me to dance. And if I don’t dance with you now, your annoying friend will probably still try to dance with me,” Cloud hissed.

Squall held out his arm for Cloud to take. “Well, then?”

Cloud knitted his brows. “Hey… I just noticed you didn’t out me to your friend.”

Squall briefly closed his eyes in exasperation. “I’m really not that much of an asshole. And Zell really can be annoying sometimes.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

Squall rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, are we going to dance, or what?”

Cloud swallowed as he took Squall’s arm. He briefly saw Aerith and Tifa dancing together behind Squall—and they had looks of shock on their faces.

“Do you even know how to dance?” Cloud grumbled.

“I know how to dance,” Squall curtly replied. “I just don’t like to.”

“Then prove it.”

“I will,” Squall said with an annoyed narrow of his eyes as he and Cloud took their places on the dance floor. “Do you know how to waltz?”

“I’ll be fine as long as you can lead.”

Squall flicked an eyebrow up. “Try to keep up, then.”

Cloud rolled his eyes, but discreetly took in a deep breath before the dance began.

“So do you often dress up like a girl?” Squall asked as they brought their hands together.

Cloud frowned. “No. Do you often insult people behind their backs?”

“I didn’t mean what I said.”

“So you _do_ think I am handsome enough to tempt you to dance?” Cloud asked.

“I don’t dance,” Squall replied.

“He says, while in the middle of a dance.”

“I hate balls,” Squall quietly said as he and Cloud made a cross-step and turn in the middle of their waltz. “I hate being stared at by people. And I hate being expected to dance at balls just because it’s the polite thing to do. So I try not to, if I can help it.”

Cloud had to agree with him, actually, and he kept silent as they did another series of turns. 

“You dance very well in that dress,” Squall commented. “I’m impressed.”

Cloud blushed and he immediately hated himself for it. “Shut it.”

“I meant it as a compliment,” Squall countered.

“So now you mean what you say?”

Squall was silent and just sighed as they continued their waltz.

“Why did you even ask me to dance if you hate dancing?” Cloud asked.

“Because I promised Zell I would try to be more sociable tonight, since we’re hosting. You were the first person I saw who had no partner.”

“…Really?”

“Is that so hard to believe?”

“Yes.” Cloud narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question before—am I handsome enough for you now?”

Squall stared at him as they circled each other closely now, as part of the dance. “Does it matter?”

“Yeah, it matters. Would you have asked me to dance if I wasn’t in a dress and makeup?”

“Would you have wanted to dance with me, if I had asked you at the last ball?”

“Maybe, if you had managed to keep your mouth shut.”

Squall scoffed just before bringing Cloud close to him by the waist, then sending him spinning until he caught him in a dip. Cloud lost his breath for a second as he clung onto Squall’s neck, staring straight up into his eyes. For a second, Squall’s eyes had lost their edge and they looked calm, almost happy. 

Cloud shook off the shock and then growled through his teeth, “Pick me up!”

Squall did as requested and smoothly helped Cloud back up to a stand. The dance was over now, and Squall bowed politely in front of Cloud.

“You’re welcome,” Squall told him.

Cloud frantically blinked at the audacity of Squall’s words. “Excuse me?”

Squall straightened up and glanced back at him calmly. “It’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? To dance with me. Well, you got your wish.”

Cloud narrowed his eyes. “I did not—“

“Then why did you go out of your way to dress up for me?” Squall interrupted as he crossed his arms.

“I didn’t dress up for you,” Cloud argued. “But apparently, me wearing a dress worked for you this time.”

Squall silently stared at Cloud, and then a quiet laugh escaped him. “Why do you care so much?”

Cloud crossed his arms and glared at Squall. “I _don’t_ care.”

Squall raised an eyebrow. “Clearly.”

Cloud scowled at him. “You’re an arrogant bastard.”

Squall raised an eyebrow in amusement. “An arrogant bastard who you went through all this trouble for just to get his attention.”

Cloud intensified his angry look at Squall. “Tell me, are all SeeDs this full of themselves or is it just you?”

Squall’s look sobered. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what I said at the last ball. I didn’t mean to insult your vanity.”

“I wasn’t insulted,” Cloud snapped.

“Then I guess I have nothing to apologize for. Good evening, Miss Strife.” There was a smirk on Squall’s lips as he bowed politely, then turned on his heel.

“H-Hey!” Cloud stuttered out. He watched in anger as Squall walked away from him. 

“Asshole,” he growled to no one in particular, since Squall was already out of earshot.

“You actually danced with Squall Leonhart?!” It was Tifa who had asked Cloud this as she and Aerith came up to his side.

“You know…. you two actually looked pretty good out here together,” Aerith remarked.

Cloud felt his cheeks flush. “Whatever—I just hope I never have to see him again.”

Aerith smiled. “You sure about that?”

“I’m sure!”

Cloud still felt the heat of his anger and desperately wanted to get out of this dress, to get outside so he could breathe in some fresh air. But he wasn’t just angry at Squall—he was angry at himself for still being in a bit of a daze over the feeling of Squall’s hands firm on his waist and the calm stare of those sea-grey eyes as he dipped him, and how soft those full lips of his looked when he smirked. As much as the man infuriated him, Cloud was almost more angry at himself for allowing those thoughts to cross his mind at all.

+

“So, how was your dance with the lovely Claudia? You looked good out there—almost like you were showing off with that last move,” Zell remarked to Squall with a smug grin.

Squall scoffed. “Can I leave?”

“What? You looked like you were enjoying yourself!”

“This is the last ball I attend for the rest of the year,” Squall said as he crossed his arms.

“Damn…you’re such a buzzkill, Squall!” Zell pouted his lip dramatically.

“Whatever… Can I go?”

Zell sighed. “Do whatever you want. But one of these days, you’re going to regret being such a sourpuss all the time!”

Squall rolled his eyes and made to leave the ball—even though it was his own house, he did not want to be here anymore. It was filled with an overwhelming amount of people and he felt like he was suffocating. 

But he froze in his steps when he saw Cloud making a beeline toward the front entrance of the house. Squall thought back to that pure look of hatred on Cloud’s face—those electric blue eyes burning into him like nothing else. Part of Squall had been so captivated just by those eyes, that he had to consciously put effort into listening to what Cloud had been saying during their conversation—although it was mostly insults.

_Why did you care so much about what I thought of your looks?_

Squall watched Cloud walk out in an elegant, but brusque fashion, holding his skirts up to keep from trailing on the ground. Squall smiled—he apparently was quite mistaken the first night they met; Cloud Strife now intrigued him more than anyone else in this town—and he had ended up tempting Squall to dance after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was only supposed to be a one-shot, but as with all my AU's, I got carried away with thinking about what would happen next and now I have a few more vignettes of this Strifehart AU in my brain. Please enjoy this next part and stay tuned for more! :)

Squall had just been finishing his patrol of the town in Radiant Garden, and thankfully, it had been an uneventful day. The golden twilight sun shined down on the windows of a shop—and the glare blinded Squall. When he shaded his eyes, he realized it was the flower shop. His patrols often seemed to take him to this shop at the end of his shift.

It had been a few months since he and Zell had been stationed in Radiant Garden—yet he had never actually been inside the flower shop. He glanced down at his watch and saw that it was finally six o’clock. With a shrug, Squall decided he would finally take the time to visit the shop.

There was a girl tending to the flowers in the front, carefully loading them up on racks of a wheeled cart she was using to put them back inside the shop. The door was still open and the “Open” sign was still lit behind the windows in a charming neon font. 

Squall stayed outside in front of the shop, looking at the flowers and small clay pots that had unique, hand-painted designs on them.

“Oh, hi!” The brown-haired girl with green eyes walked up to him, a bright smile on her face.

Squall awkwardly cleared his throat. “You’re still open, right?”

The girl stared at him with curiosity before answering. “Yes, I am! And there are more flowers inside, if you want to take a look.”

“Sure, I’ll take a look inside,” Squall returned with a smile. 

“You’re Squall Leonhart, right?” the girl asked. “One of the SeeDs.”

Squall narrowed his eyes, trying to remember if he had met her before. “Yeah…”

“You probably don’t remember me, but I’m Aerith! We met at the Summer Solstice ball. You danced with my friend Cloud at the ball you hosted.”

Squall blushed. He wasn’t expecting someone to bring that up. He didn’t know why that made him blush, either.

“Oh… he told you about that?”

“I was there!” Aerith said with a grin. Then she cleared her throat. “Anyway, feel free to take as much time looking at all the flowers! I’m putting away my beauties from the front of the shop—but just shout if you need me.”

Squall nodded quietly before Aerith turned around with a skip and happily hummed a tune. Despite the awkwardness, he soon felt relaxed in this space, surrounded by flowers and other plants. It made him think of home. He missed the peacefulness of spending his afternoons in a flower shop, how it kept him so busy, tending to the flowers and then managing the money in the evenings. When Ellone was still at home, she used to help and people would often say how glad they were that Raine’s flower shop was still alive, even when she was no longer there to run it. Squall still felt guilty for having had to sell the flower shop. Maybe that’s why walking past Aerith’s shop was such an unintentional habit of his.

“…Squall?”

“Hmm?” He turned to see Aerith tilting her head up at him, her brow furrowed in concern. “Oh, am I lingering too long? I can—“

“I told you, take as long as you need.” Aerith gave him a gentle smile. “Looking for anything special?”

Squall shook his head. “No… Just remembering… I used to run a flower shop back home in Winhill.”

Aerith’s green eyes doubled in size. “Really?! Sorry, I’m just so surprised because…you never think someone in SeeD would be someone who tends to flowers.”

Squall quietly laughed. “No, you wouldn’t… Great job on the display outside. The carts are clever—and convenient.”

Aerith grinned. “Well, no reason to make something harder than it has to be! I have to try and sell all the flowers soon, though—winter is coming.”

“Right… I noticed you still have quite a lot of dry ones in here, rather than on display outside.”

Aerith blushed. “Oh—you can tell?”

Squall shrugged. “Probably not noticeable to most people, but when you grow up in a flower shop, you kind of spot those things right away. Why aren’t you putting the dry ones outside?”

“Well…I think my customers should see my best flowers! It’ll help attract them to come inside.”

“But then most people passing by will only buy the ones outside. You should be mixing in some of the older ones. Most people who want flowers…they don’t really see using them past a day or a week, if that.”

Aerith glanced down. “So, are you offering business advice?”

Squall awkwardly cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to… Just trying to help.”

Aerith chuckled. “No, I appreciate it! You’re right… if I don’t sell those dry ones, I’m going to have to throw them out eventually and then I’ll lose money, anyway.”

Squall started looking at a bunch of irises in a bin next to his knee. 

“So… tell me, how does a guy go from selling flowers to being in an elite military group?” Aerith asked as she leaned on her counter.

“Hmm? Well, it’s a long story…” Squall replied.

Aerith smiled at him encouragingly. “I’ve got time for a story!”

Squall didn’t know what it was about Aerith that made him choose to sit down next to her rather than go home. Maybe it was that he was in a flower shop and the memories were already filling up his mind. Or maybe it was that it had been years since anyone even knew he worked at a flower shop. Or maybe it was simply that here was a person who was willing to listen and seemed like she wouldn’t judge him for his past mistakes.

So Squall took Aerith’s invitation and told her his story.

+

Aerith was quiet as she entered and closed the door of her shared apartment with Tifa and Cloud. She hummed a faint tune while she kicked her boots off and immediately sank into the sofa. 

“Hey, Aerith,” Cloud greeted her.

“Welcome home,” Tifa cheerfully said as she sat down and joined Aerith, giving her a cheek kiss. Aerith slowly smiled at that, though it seemed that her mind was still not completely in the present.

“Everything alright?” Tifa asked.

Aerith nodded and then she softly giggled. “Sorry, I just…had a lot to think about on my walk home. Everything’s fine though!”

“What is it…?” Cloud dared to ask. 

Aerith looked over at him, and then back at Tifa with a wistful expression in her eyes. “You won’t believe who just came into my shop before closing.”

“Who?” Tifa asked.

“Squall Leonhart.”

“Squall Leonhart?” Cloud scoffed. “What was he doing there?”

“He didn’t… insult you or anything?” Tifa asked, a concerned line forming between her brows.

Aerith giggled and shook her head. “No, not at all! It was actually quite the lovely chat we had.”

Cloud crossed his arms. He didn’t want to know—and he didn’t care—about the man. But curiosity itched at him. “…Well, what did you talk about?”

Aerith smiled. “He said he used to work at a flower shop—before he had joined the military—and complimented our storefront arrangements. He said it was his favorite place to walk past on his twilight patrols of the city centre, that it made him think of his mother—who had owned the shop before she died.”

“Squall Leonhart, working at a flower shop? Who would have thought,” Tifa softly thought out loud.

“He told you all of this? Just out of the blue?” Cloud asked skeptically.

Aerith’s eyes glinted with confidence. “Well, people just can’t help opening up to me—I have that quality that lets people trust me immediately. Something _you_ can’t relate to, Cloud.”

Cloud pouted. “Not everyone can be a ray of sunshine all the time.”

Aerith softly laughed and then turned back to Tifa. “It was really unexpected! Imagine, seeing that man in his SeeD uniform, with his serious face, walking into the shop just as I was closing up. I almost thought I was in trouble for something!” Aerith’s giggles subsided. “Actually…there was something very sad about him. But when he talked about the flowers and his old flower shop, he seemed to cheer up. He must miss it.”

 _Squall Leonhart…sad?_ Cloud thought to himself.

“Anyway, we talked a bit more and I asked him how he came to be in Radiant Garden. Then we talked a bit about me, and then—you won’t believe this.” Aerith grabbed Tifa’s arms as her eyes became more vibrant. “Squall bought all the flowers in the shop that were withering even the slightest! I didn’t even have to tell him which ones they were—he could tell by looking.”

“How many flowers?!” Tifa exclaimed. 

“So many that he said he would send for a truck to deliver them to his and Zell’s house tomorrow morning. And then he gave me 10,000 munny and said ‘this should cover it’ and told me to bill him if it didn’t!”

“10,000 munny?!” Tifa’s eyes were glittering and her mouth dropped open.

“So what?” Cloud muttered. 

Aerith narrowed her eyes at him. “Cloud… Just because you had a negative first impression of the man doesn’t mean that what he did today wasn’t kind.”

Cloud crossed his arms and glanced down. “He gave me a negative second impression, too—he’s rude, Aerith.”

“Maybe it’s just you, then!” Aerith quipped back. “He was a perfect gentleman with me.”

Cloud frowned at her. “Whatever—so you like the guy now?”

“He’s really not that bad. If you knew more about him, I think you’d judge him less.”

Cloud sarcastically laughed. “I doubt it.”

“Everyone has a story, Cloud. We all do,” Aerith said, gesturing to herself, Tifa, and Cloud. “And so does Squall. You might even respect him more once you learn about his past.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m not telling you!” Aerith said with a playful narrow of her eyes “You should talk to him yourself—after all, Squall opened up to me and me only. Besides… I thought you didn’t care about him and weren’t interested in getting to know him?”

“I’m not,” Cloud grumbled.

“Well, in any case—it was very kind of him to buy all those flowers and it’s going to help Aerith’s business,” Tifa remarked with a cheerful smile. “And he’s done nothing offensive to me or Aerith yet. Cloud, maybe you two just got off on the wrong foot and having a real conversation with him might change that.”

“Never gonna happen,” Cloud said as he stood up.

“Well, you’re my flower delivery boy—so it might end up happening sooner than you think!” Aerith told him with a grin.

Cloud swallowed. “You’re not going to make me deliver all those flowers to him, are you?”

Aerith giggled. “I would… but Squall already said he was going to take care of it on his own. So you’re off the hook. For now…”

+

Just a couple weeks later, Squall walked into Aerith’s flower shop again. This time, however, Cloud was managing the counter and he jumped when he saw Squall. He wasn’t in his SeeD uniform and it was the first time Cloud had seen him in casual clothes. He almost looked like a different person when he wore jeans, a short-sleeved leather jacket, and a v-neck t-shirt. But Cloud couldn’t forget that face.

“Oh. You work here…” Squall stopped just in front of Cloud, eyes wide with surprise.

Cloud hated himself for immediately looking down at Squall’s chest and noting the muscles that were visible underneath his white shirt. 

_He’s a SeeD, so of course he’s in great shape…_

Cloud cleared his throat, and glanced back down at the sticker labels he was separating. “Yeah… Looking for Aerith?”

“Is she around?” Squall asked.

“She’s on her lunch break,” Cloud replied without looking at Squall.

“Oh. I could come back, then.”

“Well, I manage the shop, too. Aerith’s the one who collects and tends to the flowers, and I handle the books for the most part. If you have any questions, I can answer.”

Squall was quiet and shoved his hands in his pockets. He glanced around the shop for a few minutes and Cloud thought he was going to suffocate from the awkward silence.

“Do you make wreaths?” Squall suddenly asked. 

“Sorry?” Cloud asked.

“Do you make wreaths, out of flowers, I mean?” Squall repeated. 

“Decorating early for the holidays?” Cloud asked with a raised eyebrow.

Squall made a slight twitch of his mouth at Cloud’s tone, then smiled. “No, not that kind of wreath. My mother used to make these white flower wreaths, to celebrate the flower festival in our hometown. Um… I guess Radiant Garden probably doesn’t have a festival like that, huh?”

“We do have a festival, but it happens in the Spring. You’re a few months early.”

Squall nodded. “I see… Do you think I could custom order a flower wreath to be made? Should I ask Aerith?”

Cloud tilted. “I can ask for you, then Aerith will call you to set up the details.”

Squall nodded again. “Okay. I guess I’ll wait for her call, then.”

“Sure,” Cloud said. “She already has your number?”

“Yeah. But if you’d also like to have it…”

“As if,” Cloud scoffed.

“I meant for the flowers,” Squall said with a raise of his eyebrow.

“I know what you meant,” Cloud said, feeling embarrassed that he had fallen right into that trap by himself.

They were quiet as Squall stood in the same spot, glancing at the flowers around him.

“Gonna buy anything?” Cloud impatiently asked.

“Sorry, just looking,” Squall said with a smile. “Wouldn’t have imagined you working at a flower shop.”

“You, neither,” Cloud replied.

“Huh?” Squall’s smile dropped.

“Uh…” Cloud felt his cheeks warm. “I just meant… Aerith, she mentioned you used to also work at a flower shop.”

“Is that all she mentioned?”

“She also said you went and bought a bunch of our flowers.”

“Is that okay?” Squall asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Why wouldn’t that be?” Cloud sighed.

“You tell me,” Squall countered. “Unless that tone was for some other imaginary offensive thing I did to you?”

Cloud flattened his eyes. “You really needed all those flowers?”

“What are you getting at?” Squall asked, his voice getting lower.

“I don’t know if it’s pity or if you’re trying to impress Aerith, but no one who’s normal would buy out half of a flower shop.”

“I guess I’m not normal then,” Squall said with a shrug. “But why does that bother you so much? Aerith needed to sell her withering flowers, so I bought them. Why make it any more complicated than that? I would think you’d be happy about the business.”

“We don’t need your charity,” Cloud grumbled.

“And…you’re sure that if it had been anyone else who bought the flowers, you’d be treating them this way, too?”

“Sure.”

“I guess that means Aerith is the lead in customer service,” Squall said under his breath. “Listen, I really don’t want to stand here and argue with you, Cloud, so I’ll be on my way.”

“You remembered my name?” Cloud asked.

Squall grinned. “Of course. You remember mine, don’t you?”

“Squall.” Then Cloud cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “Anyway, I’ll ask Aerith about the wreath.”

Squall nodded. “Thanks, Cloud.”

Cloud nodded and pursed his lips. Then Squall turned around and left out the door, and Cloud felt like he could finally exhale.

+

"More flowers?” Zell asked as he watched Squall hang up the phone, having just spoken to Aerith to arrange his wreath order. “What’s got into you? You trying to make us a real flower garden in the back?”

Squall shrugged. “Well, we do have all that unused space in the backyard. And… I want a wreath for my mom.”

“A wreath?” Zell tilted his head in question.

“It’s too far to go to Winhill without missing work—so I’m making a shrine for her since I can’t visit her grave,” Squall answered.

Zell rubbed at his hair and sadly frowned at Squall. “Why don’t you just ask for a few days off, so you can go?”

Squall stared at nothing in particular as he looked away from Zell. “I can’t.”

“Squall… you can go a few days—“

“No. I made my choice when I became a SeeD,” Squall interrupted. “This was the kind of life I wanted… Not being able to go home to Winhill is just one of the prices I have to pay for it.”

Zell kept a sad stare on him and reached out a hand to touch Squall’s shoulder. “Squall… is everything okay?”

Squall sighed as he shrugged out of Zell’s touch. “Yeah. It’s fine. I’ll just need to honor Mom’s memory here.”

“Hey, I can cover for you if you want—“

“I’m not going to Winhill, Zell,” Squall said in a stern tone.

Zell raised his hands up defensively. “Okay… I won’t push anymore.”

Squall sighed and then picked up his jacket from a chair at the kitchen table. “I’m going out.”

“Want me to come with?” Zell asked.

“I want to be alone,” Squall said without turning to face him.

+

Tifa was just getting started on her shift that night at the bar, practicing some of her fancier moves as she made a margarita. She heard someone come in and sit down at the bar while she poured other patrons their drinks, but when she turned around, she froze in surprise.

Taking off his leather jacket and setting it on the back of a chair was none other than Squall Leonhart—as if he could be mistaken for anyone else with that scar on his face.

Tifa put on her friendliest smile and went up to him. “What can I get for ya?”

“A glass of the best whiskey you have,” Squall replied.

Tifa flicked an eyebrow up. “That kind of day?”

Squall shrugged, and Tifa turned around to reach up for her best quality bottle of whiskey on the shelf at her eye level.

“I’ve never seen you come in here before,” she told Squall without turning around.

Squall didn’t respond.

“Special occasion?” Tifa asked as soon as she began to pour a glass for him.

Squall glanced up at her without a word, his eyes looking heavy.

“Stupid question,” Tifa said in a quieter voice as she slid Squall’s glass of whiskey toward him. “There are really only two reasons anyone comes in to drink alone.”

Squall raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued. “What are the two reasons?”

Tifa smiled as she got to work mixing a drink for another customer. “One—a broken heart.” She tossed the mixer up in the air and spun around to catch it behind her back. “Or two—there’s something stressful on your mind that you can’t stop thinking about.”

She left to go deliver drinks to two other customers, then came back to lean her elbows onto the counter, opposite of Squall. Aerith had told her and Cloud a little about his backstory, but Tifa was curious to know more about the man herself. After all, Squall was just as anti-social and rude as Cloud was to people he barely met, but there wasn’t as much ferocity in him as there was in Cloud. Looking at him now, it was as Aerith said—there was a certain sadness in his eyes.

“So… is it Number One or Number Two?” Tifa asked Squall.

“A little of both, I guess,” Squall answered. “Next week is the anniversary of my mother’s death.”

Tifa’s mouth dropped open and she sadly furrowed her brow “Oh… I’m so sorry about your mother. How long ago did she—well, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago. I was still just a kid when it happened,” Squall said with a shrug. He took another drink of his glass.

“Those days are tough,” Tifa replied. “My mother died when I was young, too. My father, a few years later. So… I get it.”

Squall gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”

Tifa softly smiled at him. “Thank you. “

After Tifa finished tending to the few other patrons in the bar and it seemed late enough that no one else would be coming in on a Thursday night, she leaned her elbows on the counter across from Squall again, who was on his second glass of whiskey.

“So… is there anything you do on the day of your mom’s death?” Tifa asked.

Squall glanced upward, as if in thought of how to respond. “Well… I can’t go back home to visit her grave this year, so… I thought I would get her a wreath.”

“A wreath?”

“She used to own a flower shop and made the best flower wreaths in town. So… I can’t exactly see her, but…I thought buying a wreath… somehow it would make me feel closer to her.” Squall laughed at himself. “It’s silly, I know.”

“No, it’s not,” Tifa replied. “Not at all.”

Squall smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“Aerith is making you that wreath, huh?” Tifa asked.

Squall’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“I guess you might not remember—she’s my girlfriend,” Tifa said with a bashful smile. “So… she tells me about work sometimes. Aerith will make sure to give that wreath the best care she can.”

“I have no doubt,” Squall replied. 

Tifa turned around and grabbed a stool, then stepped up on it to help her reach for a whiskey bottle on the top shelf.

“This is actually the best bottle of whiskey we have—only for very special occasions,” Tifa said as she poured the liquid into two shot glasses. She slid one over to Squall. “A toast, to your mom.”

“To Mom,” Squall said with a smile before taking the shot.

“Well, instead of having a sad night drinking alone… how about we talk about all the good and fun things about our parents?” Tifa asked with a bright grin.

Squall tilted his head in question. “Like…?”

“Well, I’ll start. My dad—as much as I loved him, he was such a dork! He had a photography side hobby and thought he was so good that if he just took one picture of a famous person, we’d be rich!” Tifa giggled. “The truth is, all of his photos were off center—even family photos we had in the house. Anytime someone pointed it out, he would always come up with the excuse that he was making them _artistic_.”

Squall softly laughed at that.

“Now your turn,” Tifa said.

“My mom… She wasn’t a dork at all—she was always put together, always knew how to solve every problem, and just…did everything right. She would still have fun, though—she used to sing and dance to songs on the radio while she cleaned the house or washed dishes.”

“Did you ever dance with her?”

Squall grinned. “Yeah, actually… I used to really like dancing—but only at home with my mom and sister.”

“That’s funny… considering how you are now,” Tifa remarked with a snort.

Squall’s eyes widened.

Tifa’s smile dropped. “Oh—no, I didn’t mean to offend you, I just—“

“No, you’re right… that _is_ funny!” Tifa was surprised to see Squall laughing and looking at ease as he gave her a big smile.

+

Cloud stopped his motorcycle in front of Seventh Heaven, only a minute early from the end of Tifa’s shift. The bar wasn’t a far walk from their apartment, but he preferred to make sure Tifa got home safe whenever she worked a late shift.

Tifa came out a few minutes later and locked up the doors, but when she turned around, Cloud noticed the skin under her eyes was reddened and her eyes were shining with what looked like tears.

“Hey… Is everything okay?” Cloud asked as he walked up to her. 

“It’s fine—it’s nothing,” Tifa said as she smiled at Cloud.

Cloud tilted his head and frowned. “Tifa…”

Tifa wiped her eyes and answered, “Really, Cloud… it’s nothing! I’m just… a bit emotional right now.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Cloud replied. “Come on, you can talk to me.”

Tifa sighed. “Well, Squall came into the bar tonight and—”

“Did he do something to make you cry?” Cloud asked, scowling. “Because I swear, I will—“

“Cloud, no! He didn’t do anything like that!” Tifa frowned at him. “Why do you always assume the worst with him?”

Cloud crossed his arms. “So he didn’t do or say anything wrong to you?”

“No, Cloud…” Tifa sighed, and then she lost the tension in her face. “Actually, we both got to talking about our parents—his mom died, and the anniversary is coming up. I was just thinking about the fact that he’s alone. Squall is grieving his mother and he’s all alone to do it… He has a sister, but she’s in a different country and it’s not possible for them to be together right now.”

Cloud rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, he has Zell, right?“

“Please, you know what Zell is like,” Tifa scoffed. “If that was enough, he wouldn’t have been alone at the bar tonight. I think he needs friends, Cloud. I think he _wants_ friends. Think about it—if we didn’t have each other, how much more painful it would be on the anniversary of our parents’ deaths.”

Cloud glanced at Tifa, and then sighed. “I know…”

“I was glad I was able to talk to him, though.” Tifa said with a smile. “Maybe… we could be his friends.”

“If you and Aerith want to be friends with Squall, that’s fine,” Cloud replied.

Tifa raised an eyebrow. “Cloud…”

Cloud crossed his arms. “Look, it’s not a big deal—me and the guy just don’t get along.”

Tifa rolled her eyes. “Have you even tried to get along with him?”

“I was perfectly civil to him in the shop the other day.”

“That doesn’t count, Cloud.”

Cloud sighed. “Well, it doesn’t matter how I feel. You can choose your own friends.”

Tifa nodded. “Well, I do want to be Squall’s friend.”

Cloud didn’t have anything else to say to that and silently led the way to his motorcycle.

“Hey, Tifa… Are you feeling okay now?” Cloud asked before they got on the bike, his voice becoming more soft. “If you need to talk some more…”

“I’m alright… But thank you, Cloud.” She gently smiled at him. “You know, Squall was surprisingly easy to talk to about that stuff. I hope you get to see that side of him, too, one day.”

+

A few days later, Cloud walked into the flower shop to start his shift and Aerith had been waiting for him, right in front of the door.

“It’s your lucky day!” Aerith greeted him.

“I’m scared to ask why,” Cloud mumbled as he brushed past her.

Aerith giggled as she followed him inside the shop. “You get to deliver a very important order today!”

She handed him a paper slip that had the customer’s delivery information on it. Then she whisked away behind the counter and presented Cloud with a large, square box.

Cloud glanced down at the slip and saw the name. “This is…”

“A flower wreath for Squall Leonhart,” Aerith finished. “It’s a special delivery, Cloud. Handle with extreme care!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Cloud rolled his eyes and prepared to go back outside to get on his motorcycle. 

_I guess it was only a matter of time before Aerith was going to make me do this…_

+

When Cloud walked up the steps to the mansion on the outskirts of Radiant Garden, he had flashbacks to the last time he was here—in a dress. Which then led to a flashback of dancing with Squall—which made him still blush, months after the fact. He wasn’t wearing a corset this time, but that didn’t stop him from feeling anxiety after he rang the doorbell, wondering what his next interaction with him would be like.

Zell opened the door and gave Cloud a bright smile. “Hi! Cloud…right?”

“You remembered my name?” Cloud asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“‘Course I do! I have a pretty good memory, haha…” Zell awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “Anyway, what can I do for you?”

“Delivery from Aerith’s flower shop,” Cloud replied as he handed the box to Zell. “Make sure the flowers are stored someplace cool to preserve them.”

“Oh, this is for Squall, huh? He’s not home right now, but I’ll make sure he gets this!” Zell replied with a grin.

“Oh, okay....” Cloud was relieved that he wouldn’t have to see Squall’s face, but also… a bit disappointed?

“Hey, Cloud… how’s your sister, Claudia?” Zell asked. “I haven’t seen her since that one night at our ball.”

Cloud’s eyes widened. “Oh—she’s… out of the country. For school.”

Zell pouted. “Aww, bummer… you know, I think Squall really liked her!”

Cloud felt his cheeks flush and he cleared his throat. “Oh—well, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it? And…she’s never mentioned Squall, so…”

Zell awkwardly laughed. “Right… he’s a bit of a dingus, isn’t he? Anyway, thanks for the flowers, Cloud! We should hang out sometime!”

“Uh… maybe,” Cloud awkwardly mumbled.

“How is it that Squall and I have been here for a few months already and we still haven’t seen you since that first ball we went to? You’re not avoiding us, are you?”

“Uh…”

“I’m just kidding!” Zell laughed loudly at his own joke. “But for real—you seem like a cool dude, Aerith and Tifa are cool—we should all hang out! Squall hates balls, so it can’t be another one of those, but—“

“I need to get going,” Cloud interrupted. “Work, you know…”

“Right—sorry to keep you,” Zell cheerfully replied. “I’ll give you a call!”

Cloud was glad to leave and get back on the road. He hoped that might be the last time he’d be forced to go to that house, but knowing Aerith… she’d probably make it a regular thing if Squall ended up buying more flowers. And it seemed that now Tifa liked Squall, too… so he might be showing up to Seventh Heaven in the future. But Cloud didn’t have long to ponder about that, because his motorcycle suddenly started to slow down. 

“No, no, no, no…” Cloud groaned and looked at the fuel meter, realizing that he had been so annoyed about having to deliver Squall’s flowers that he had rushed to get it over with—and had forgotten to fill up the near-empty gas tank. He wasn’t even near the town, yet, still on the road in the middle of nowhere.

Cloud heaved a big sigh and took off his helmet before getting out of his seat. He’d have to push the motorcycle as far as he could—until someone could stop to help, or he got to a fuel station—whichever came first.

After about twenty minutes, he saw a car slow down on the opposite side of the road and then he heard the slide of dirt on tires, as the car did a U-turn. 

“Oh, good,” Cloud said out loud as he saw the car coming. He stopped walking and watched the approaching car, but then he saw the person driving it—clearly visible since the black muscle car had the top down.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Cloud muttered under his breath.

“Did you break down?” Squall Leonhart, out of all people, asked as he parked right next to Cloud.

“Ran out of gas,” Cloud replied as he put his hands on his hips.

“I could give you a ride to the fuel station. Do you have a gas container?” Squall asked.

“Not with me.”

Squall nodded. “I’ll take you into town, then.”

“No thanks,” Cloud answered.

Squall furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“I’ll walk.”

“You seriously aren’t going to let me help you?”

“I got it handled,” Cloud said.

Squall sighed. “Okay, then.” 

He turned the car around, and drove on toward his home. Cloud sighed and began to push his motorcycle again.

+

  
  


“Your flowers are here!” Zell cheerfully called out as soon as Squall entered the house. “Cloud came and delivered them—you remember him, right?”

Squall walked to the table where there the box was resting and he opened up the cardboard to see a wreath filled with various blooming white flowers. He smiled. It wasn’t exactly like his mother’s, but he could tell that Aerith put a lot of time and effort into making this one. All of the flowers were perfectly fresh and fragrant. 

“Yeah… I remember him,” Squall finally replied. “That must be why his motorcycle ran out of gas all the way out here…”

“What? Should we go help?” Zell asked.

“Nah, he doesn’t want my help,” Squall said with a shrug.

He walked out to the backyard and decided to hang the wreath outside within a small, shaded garden space he had created along the wall of the house. A picture of his mother rested along a wooden shelf and he placed the wreath above it. It felt like a proper shrine now.

“I’ll be back, Mom,” Squall said as he stood back and looked it over. “There’s a stubborn idiot out on the road who doesn’t want me to give him a ride back into town. But… I know you’d want me to do the right thing, anyway.” 

+

A car had shown up and stopped right in front of Cloud. It was Squall again.

“I said I could handle it,” Cloud told him.

Squall slowly followed Cloud’s pace as he kept walking. “It’ll take you at least an hour to walk to town from here.”

“That’s fine,” Cloud stoically answered.

“I bet Aerith is worried.”

Cloud sighed because that was probably true.

“Why are you so against getting help? Would you rather have Zell drive you?” Squall asked.

Cloud grimaced. “Hell no—I’d just end up wanting to jump out of the car with how much he talks.”

Squall chuckled and stopped the car. “Get in, Cloud.”

Cloud turned to him and stopped walking.

“Come on… Aerith’s waiting on you, right?” Squall raised an eyebrow.

Cloud sighed and finally obliged, putting the parking brake on his motorcycle.

“What are you listening to?” Cloud asked after they had been on the road for about a minute. Squall had turned the stereo on and there was soft rock music playing out of the speakers.

“It’s not your car—so you don’t have to like it,” Squall said with a frown.

“I don’t want to have to hear it, either,” Cloud muttered as he shut the stereo off.

Squall sighed as he tapped his hand against the steering wheel. “You know, maybe I should have left you on the side of the road.”

“Geez,” Cloud scoffed. “Didn’t realize you were so sensitive…”

Squall narrowed his eyes at Cloud. “Me, sensitive? Weren’t you the one who disguised yourself in a dress and a wig at a ball just to get back at me for what I said about you at another stupid ball? Actually, never mind—you said you weren’t insulted.”

“And you took back your apology, which is still a dick move,” Cloud said as he crossed his arms. “Even if I wasn’t insulted, it doesn’t excuse how rude you were. Taking back your apology just made you look like an even bigger asshole.”

Squall was quiet as he stared ahead at the road.

 _Geez, did that really get him to stop talking?_ Cloud thought to himself. 

Since Squall had gone silent, Cloud decided to look out to the side of the car, watching the fields rush past his vision as they drove closer into town.

“Cloud… If you hate me, that’s fine,” Squall suddenly said, breaking the silence. “But I’d rather you hate me after getting to know me, rather than basing my entire character off of a single sentence or two. Is that fair?”

“I guess that’s fair,” Cloud replied. “But I don’t hate you. That would require me to actively care about you—which I don’t.”

Squall quietly laughed. “Thanks for the clarification.”

+

With a bit more bickering on the way, Squall finally reached the fuel station in Radiant Garden, but Cloud had been quick to snatch the gas can and buy his gas—even after Squall insisted he’d pay for it. It was bad enough that Squall had bought half of all the flowers in Aerith’s shop—Cloud didn’t need Squall paying for his gas, too… and it was just weird that he was acting nice now… Cloud didn’t trust Squall and he was convinced there was some ulterior motive behind the recent generosity.

“Thanks for delivering the flowers, even though you got stranded on the way back,” Squall said as soon as they had returned to Cloud’s motorcycle. “Did Zell give you a tip?”

Cloud shook his head as he saw Squall dig into his pocket for his wallet. “That’s not necessary.”

“You only ran out of gas because you came all this way to deliver the wreath,” Squall said. “It’s the least I could do to repay you for your trouble.”

Cloud didn’t answer and sighed as he got out of the car with the gas can in hand. After he finished filling up his motorcycle’s tank, Squall got out of the car and walked up to him.

“Look—I really don’t need a tip,” Cloud said as he turned around to face him.

“Okay—I won’t tip you,” Squall said with a furrow of his brow. He took the gas can back from Cloud. “Get back to town safe.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Cloud replied.

“Can I just say it, anyway?” Squall asked with an uneasy laugh.

“No,” Cloud answered.

Squall took in a deep breath and placed a palm over his forehead. “What the hell is your problem?”

Cloud frowned at him. “I didn’t ask for your help. So you don’t need to try and be nice to me now just because you feel bad for us being poor—or whatever it is you think you’ve been doing lately to meddle in mine, Aerith's, and Tifa’s lives.”

“Oh, get over yourself, already,” Squall groaned. “This has nothing to do with Aerith or Tifa—and I don’t do things for people just because I feel bad for them.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Cloud muttered.

“I’m sorry, Cloud!” Squall shouted. “There—is that what you wanted to hear? I’m sorry I said one rude thing about you that I didn’t even really mean, and I’m sorry that I took my apology back. But that was months ago and I have only been trying to help you today. So just… get over it already!”

Cloud crossed his arms and sighed. “Apology accepted. Can you leave now?

Squall narrowed his eyes at Cloud and scoffed. “How are Tifa and Aerith even friends with someone like you?”

“Don’t talk about them as if you know them,” Cloud snapped.

“I _do_ know them,” Squall argued.

“No, you don’t,” Cloud said as he glared at Squall. “Buying out half of Aerith’s shop and talking to Tifa one night at her bar doesn’t mean anything. They’re not your friends—and you’re not my friend, either—so why are you even bothering with helping me?”

“Not that it’s up to you—and I understand that you already think I’m an asshole—but I’d like to think I made genuine connections with both Tifa and Aerith,” Squall calmly answered. 

He took in a deep breath before he continued, “But I guess the only reason I ended up talking to both of them recently is because it’s the anniversary of my mother’s death. I’d been thinking about it in the weeks leading up, and that must be what drew me to Aerith’s shop during my patrols. And yes—it was impulsive of me to buy the flowers, but the flowers reminded me of home, and I have all this money from being in SeeD that is just sitting in my bank account—so yes, I bought Aerith’s wilting flowers to support her business. And then I came back to the shop because I decided I’d get a wreath to commemorate my mother’s memory—since she used to be famous for the wreaths she made in our hometown. And as for Tifa… I went to the bar that night to try and stop feeling like shit about not being able to visit my mom’s grave this year and ended up having a much better night after talking with her. And as for today… of course I didn’t expect you to run out of gas on this road after delivering my flowers—but I wasn’t just going to drive past without doing anything when you were clearly in need of assistance.”

Cloud felt his stomach sink with regret. Squall’s explanations actually made sense within their proper context, now that he thought about it.

“I don’t have to justify my actions to you, Cloud,” Squall continued as he gave him an angry stare. “But if you really must know—the reason I chose to help you is because if I’m ever in a position to help someone without burdening myself and I feel like it, then I’ll help them out. Even an ungrateful asshole like you.”

Cloud had no idea how to respond to Squall, and kept silent as he glanced down. 

“Get back to town safe,” Squall solemnly told him, and then he walked back to his car.

Cloud watched as Squall sped off down the road toward his home, and then he sighed.

“Shit…”

+

When Cloud finally returned to the flower shop, Aerith greeted him with a smile, practically jumping in joy.

“Took you long enough to get back! Did you end up spending some quality time with Squall?” she asked with a wink.

Cloud shot Aerith a bitter stare as he made his way to the counter and sat down, sighing as he placed his head in his hands.

“Oh… someone’s in a real mood today,” Aerith said in a quiet, but teasing, voice.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Aerith,” Cloud muttered.

“Oh dear… what happened?” 

Cloud picked his head up and saw Aerith staring at him with a genuine expression of concern.

“I’m… an asshole,” Cloud sighed.

Aerith furrowed her brow. “Did something happen between you and Squall?”

“He tried to help me today—and I couldn’t stop being an asshole,” Cloud explained. “I just… couldn’t understand why he was doing all these nice things lately—so I just assumed the worst and… I’m such an idiot.”

Aerith sighed and put her hands on her hips. “You’ll both get past this, I’m sure.”

“He probably never wants to talk to me again after today,” Cloud said. “And I wouldn’t blame him.”

“It sounds like you want to talk to him, though…”

Cloud felt his cheeks warm. “I mean—I don’t _not_ want to talk to him again…”

“Aww, you’re blushing!” Aerith pointed out with a smile.

“Shut up—I’m not,” Cloud snapped.

She hopped onto the counter to sit next to Cloud and comfortingly patted him on the shoulder. “Well, don’t worry so much. I think the sooner you and Squall realize how similar you are, the happier you both will be. You might even become good friends—or more.”

“Huh?”

“Or you can duel each other to the death, so then there’s only one broody, edgy guy left in Radiant Garden,” Aerith joked. “I’m sure people would pay good money to see that!”

“Very funny, Aerith…” Cloud grumbled.

“I guess this whole thing is my fault for sending you to deliver the wreath…” Aerith’s bright look faltered. “Maybe you two… really just won’t ever get along.”

Cloud sadly pursed his lips. “Hey, it’s not your fault. I think… maybe I misjudged him, after all.”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Aerith said with a smug grin at Cloud. “You better make it up to Squall the next time you see him!”

Cloud just sighed in response.

_If he ever wants to see me again…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...
> 
> That was quite the tense ending, but it's not the end of Cloud & Squall's story! Stay tuned for the next part (which I will hopefully post within the next couple of weeks)


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a few weeks since Cloud last saw Squall on the day his motorcycle ran out of gas. Aerith and Tifa had seen Squall a few times separately since then, but it seemed that Squall only visited them when Cloud wasn’t around. Cloud, of course, could only conclude that Squall was now actively avoiding him.

One day, Cloud decided to walk around town after the flower shop closed, hoping he might run into Squall on one of his patrols to give him a chance to apologize in person. Cloud did this several more times, but much to his disappointment, he never encountered Squall during these walks. He was thinking about it again as he stared outside from his counter at the flower shop, watching the golden afternoon light fill up the glass door. He wondered if he would ever see Squall walk through that door again…

“I have a feeling he’s not going to show up today, either,” Aerith quietly said out of nowhere.

“Huh?” Cloud turned around.

“You’ve been staring out the window for ages like a sad little cat,” Aerith said with a tender smile.

“I’m not a sad little cat,” Cloud said with a frown. “And I’m not staring—I was just thinking about something, that’s all.”

“ _Someone_ , you mean?” Aerith said.

Cloud rolled his eyes and sighed. 

“Well, the sun’s going down earlier these days. I guess we should close up shop soon!” Aerith stood up and patted Cloud gently on the head before going outside to start closing up.

Cloud rested his cheek on one of his hands as he leaned onto the counter. 

_I’m not sad… I just…feel like the world’s biggest jerk._

“So… ready to walk home?” Aerith asked after Cloud helped her finish closing up.

“Actually, I was thinking I’d spend some time in town,” Cloud answered.

“You’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Aerith remarked with a raised eyebrow. “You know, instead of wasting your time walking around town hoping to run into him… you can just call him and apologize, you know. You have his number.”

Cloud felt a flush in his cheeks. “I can’t just call him!”

“So you _were_ thinking about Squall…” Aerith said with a smug grin.

Cloud crossed his arms and frowned. “So?”

Aerith smiled. “I think it’s sweet that you miss him.”

“I don’t miss him!” Cloud quickly defended. “But… I was hoping to apologize the next time I saw him. It would only feel right to do it in person, but I can’t exactly show up to his doorstep. That’d be awkward.”

“And walking around town aimlessly every evening, hoping to run into him, isn’t?” Aerith asked.

Cloud responded with a frown.

“I’m just kidding! I actually think it’s mature of you to want to apologize face to face,” Aerith said with a celebratory clap of her hands.

Cloud rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Aerith.”

“Don’t get home too late!” she cheerfully said before walking off.

+

Cloud walked all around town again until it got dark, with no sight of Squall anywhere. Since he had ended his walk on the far side of town, Cloud decided to take the underground gardens shortcut to get home faster. But he hadn’t been walking for long before he heard raised voices and what sounded like a scuffle farther into the dim tunnel. He stopped in his tracks and looked over to see what was going on.

“You SeeDs show up and you think you’re such tough guys, like you own the place!”

_SeeD? Could it be…_

“Yeah, bet you ain’t so tough when you’re outnumbered!”

Cloud narrowed his eyes and edged closer, and indeed saw Squall in his navy blue SeeD uniform, blocking a punch and countering with a kick to his attacker’s stomach. But there were two more guys ready to follow up on their buddy’s attempt.

“Wow, even Radiant Garden has low-level thugs with no hobbies,” Squall sarcastically said as he rolled his shoulders and raised his arms up in a fighting stance. “Alright, this will be quick…”

The three men descended on Squall but he was able to duck and strike out at one of them with his elbow, meanwhile punching a second one in the jaw. Cloud wondered if he should just keep walking—after all, it looked like Squall had this handled.

But then, the third guy pulled something out of his sleeve and it shined in the tunnel’s lamplight.

“Hey!” Cloud shouted. “Behind you, he’s got a knife!”

Squall quickly spun around and just dodged the knife from going into his side—but still caught its edge on his arm. He gritted in pain but defended himself as he punched the guy who just tried to stab him. Cloud rushed over to help Squall, and knocked down one of the other guys, who had an eyepatch.

As they stood back to back, readying to defend themselves, Squall turned slightly to look at Cloud.

“Cloud, what are you doing here?” 

“Talk later! First, let’s teach these clowns a lesson about jumping someone who’s outnumbered,” Cloud replied.

Squall nodded and turned back before he and Cloud launched at the same time to fight against the thugs until they were thoroughly beaten and ran away.

“Hey… shouldn’t those guys get arrested or something?” Cloud asked, once he caught his breath.

Squall shrugged. “I’m not Radiant Garden’s law enforcement. I’m SeeD. I can’t legally arrest them unless I was ordered to do so.”

“But still… they can’t just get away with assaulting you,” Cloud argued.

“Eh, we took care of them pretty quick. No need to make it a bigger problem,” Squall answered.

“Why does it sound like you’re used to this kind of thing happening?” Cloud raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it has happened a few times. Although, it’s the first time it’s happened here in Radiant Garden. Insecure bullies with no hobbies always want to try and ‘prove’ the strength of SeeD—so they do it the only way they know how.”

“Hmm,” Cloud responded.

They were quiet for a few seconds, and it seemed like Squall finally remembered that he had been avoiding Cloud and awkwardly glanced away from him.

“Thanks, for helping out,” he told Cloud. 

“Yeah… no problem,” Cloud answered. He glanced down at Squall’s arm—which was trailing a thick stream of blood through a rip in his sleeve.

“Hey, you’re bleeding,” Cloud said with a worried furrow of his brow.

“I’ll be fine.” Squall shrugged as he placed a hand over the wound. “It’s just a scratch.”

“That’s a lot of blood for a scratch… My apartment’s not that far from here. I can bandage that up quickly,” Cloud offered.

Squall stared at him, wide-eyed.

“What?” Cloud asked.

“You’re asking me to go home with you?”

Cloud put a hand on his hip and frowned. “I live close—you live far away. You’re bleeding. I have a house with first aid supplies. I can help—so I’m gonna!”

Squall calmed his stare, and nodded. “Okay.”

+

Cloud and Squall were silent the entire time they walked to Cloud’s apartment. Cloud thought it was awkward timing to suddenly bring up his apology, plus it seemed like Squall wasn’t too thrilled to be going anywhere with him.

Cloud walked into his apartment first, and let Squall follow him. “We’ll go to the bathroom,” he told Squall. “For the…blood…”

“Got it,” Squall quietly replied.

Aerith was sitting in the living room reading a book, and gasped when she looked up. “Squall!”

“Hi, Aerith,” Squall said with an uneasy smile.

She glanced between Cloud and Squall while rapidly blinking—and then she frowned. “You’re bleeding! Cloud, did you do this to him?”

“Aerith, please…” Cloud grumbled. 

“No, he didn’t,” Squall quickly answered before Cloud took him by his good arm to rush them towards the bathroom through the small apartment’s tiny hallway.

Squall removed his SeeD jacket and sat on top of the toilet as he stretched out his arm along the sink. Cloud remained standing after he took out his first-aid supplies and started to clean and disinfect Squall’s arm. Then he quickly bandaged Squall’s wound, saying nothing except for the simple directions he needed to tell Squall as he wrapped his arm.

“You seem like you know what you’re doing,” Squall remarked after Cloud finished.

“I just have practice,” Cloud replied. “It’s a lot easier doing this with two hands.”

Squall raised his eyebrows. “Are you used to getting in fights?”

Cloud shrugged as he started putting away his supplies. “Haven't been in one recently—until today, I guess…but yeah.”

“Hmm.” Squall finally took his arm off of the sink as he examined the bandage. “Thank you, Cloud. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”

“No,” Cloud quickly replied.

Squall glanced down. “…Right. You wanted me to leave you alone.”

Cloud sighed, and realized that he still hadn’t apologized to Squall yet. “Squall… Listen—I said a lot of horrible things to you that day that you didn’t deserve.”

Squall stared at Cloud with a look of surprise.

“I get that you were just trying to help me with my bike, and… I’m sorry I was such an asshole about it,” Cloud finally said as he put a nervous hand to his neck.

“Thank you for your apology,” Squall replied. “Is that why you helped me today?”

“No, I would have done that anyway because it was the right thing to do.” Cloud awkwardly scratched behind his ear. “Although, I probably was the last person you wanted to see down there, huh?”

“I’m glad you were there,” Squall told Cloud, sounding sincere.

Tifa walked in at that moment and looked over at Squall. “Oh, Squall! Are you hurt badly? What happened?”

Squall smiled at her. “Nothing to worry about. Cloud patched me up pretty good.”

“Cloud…” Tifa smiled at him. “Well, I’m glad he was able to help you, then!”

“I guess I better get going,” Squall said as he picked up his jacket.

“Wait—why don’t you join us for dinner, Squall?” Tifa asked.

“Huh?” Both Squall and Cloud questioned at the same time.

“You’re going to have a bit of a rough time if you feel like cooking tonight, and…well, Cloud never thanked you properly for helping him with gas that one time, so—“

Squall awkwardly glanced to the side. “Oh, well, I don’t need—“

“Just say yes,” Aerith called out from the living room. “You’re already here, anyway!”

Squall sheepishly smiled. “Okay…”

“Great!” Tifa clapped her hands together and smiled. “I’m cooking dinner—so I’m glad you’re here!”

Squall followed Tifa out to the living room, while Cloud put everything away under the sink. When he went out to the living room, he noticed Squall glancing all around him at their furniture and decorations, a calculating look in his eyes.

“Wait… you all live together?” Squall asked as he turned to Cloud.

“Yep!” Aerith answered with a grin.

“I guess it’s surprising because you and Tifa are such nice people,” Squall told Aerith with a smile. “And yet there’s this guy who acts like a jerk like he gets paid for it. I wouldn’t think you’d actually want to live with him…”

Cloud glared at Squall. “Hey, I just helped you in a fight and bandaged up your arm for you! Now you’re insulting me?”

Squall narrowed his eyes at Cloud in a lighthearted manner. “I thought you weren’t easily insulted…”

“I’m not!”

Aerith stood up and got in between the two men, placing hands on both of their chests as she pushed them apart.

“Okay, well… Cloud, how about you come help me set up the table? And Squall… you can just relax!” Aerith told him.

Cloud sighed and followed her toward the dining area, which was technically all part of their kitchen.

“What is wrong with you?” Aerith hissed to Cloud. “You just made up with him a minute ago!”

“Well, he started it!” Cloud whispered back.

“Well you don’t have to finish every stupid little fight, Cloud!”

“You heard what he said! He called me a jerk!”

“Well, you _have_ been a jerk to him!” Aerith whispered back.

Cloud bitterly stared at Aerith. “I just did something really nice for him today.”

Aerith raised an eyebrow, and then walked over to where Squall was now apparently helping Tifa in the kitchen.

“Squall, that’s so nice of you—you sure it isn’t painful?” Cloud overheard Tifa ask.

“I still have one perfectly good arm. I’m glad to help,” Squall cheerfully replied.

“Thank you! That’s so thoughtful.”

“My pleasure!”

Heat boiled up in Cloud’s chest as he watched Squall and Tifa smile at each other during this exchange. 

“Why’s he so nice to you and Tifa?” he whispered to Aerith, when she had returned with silverware. “Just because you’re girls?”

“You were a girl with him once, too, remember?” Aerith said with a wink.

Cloud blushed. “That doesn’t count—and besides, we argued the whole time then, too.”

“Can’t you try to get along with him for once?”

“I was trying to!” Cloud sighed, wondering if it had even been worth it to apologize…

+

“It’s really lucky that Cloud got there in time to save the day,” Tifa remarked as they were all sitting down to eat dinner. She had decided to sit next to Squall, meanwhile Cloud and Aerith sat opposite of them at the small table.

“I didn’t save the day…” Cloud said, feeling an awkward twitch in his cheek. “I just intervened before the worst of it.”

“I could have been in the hospital if it weren’t for you warning me about the knife,” Squall said as he turned to him. “So… you kind of were there to save the day.”

“Wow…who would have known that taking a stroll into town after work would have been such a good decision, Cloud?” Aerith stared directly into Cloud’s eyes with a smirk on her lips.

“Anyway, it’s not that bad of a cut. Really, I’ve had worse,” Squall told Tifa.

“You sound like Cloud,” she replied with a soft laugh. “Back in the day, he’d come home every night covered in cuts and bruises. Sometimes broken bones. And he always acted like it wasn’t a big deal!”

Squall turned to Cloud. “Care to elaborate?”

“Not really…” Cloud shook his head before sipping his drink.

“Cloud!” Aerith kicked him under the table and made him choke.

Squall awkwardly smiled. “It’s okay… He doesn’t have to tell me.”

“Cloud used to fight in an underground ring to make money,” Tifa started. “He’s not really proud of it, but…it was the only way we got by for a while.”

“Tifa!” Cloud protested.

“What? That’s part of my past, too,” Tifa reprimanded. “It was illegal, of course, but Cloud and I needed money after we moved from Nibelheim to Radiant Garden. We were displaced, actually.”

“Displaced?” Squall asked.

“There was a terrible fire. Our village burned down and our parents…” Tifa stopped talking. “Well, I won’t bring down the mood. Anyway, Cloud did that for several months until I was able to get a job as a bartender—and then we met Aerith.”

Aerith chimed in, “Cloud and Tifa actually helped me start my business! Before, I just used to sell flowers I cultivated myself at home and all I had was a flower cart—and when that broke, just a basket.”

“I had just started working at the bar when Aerith was selling flowers outside one day," Tifa continued. “So…I decided to help her set up the flowers there and people loved them so much, that we needed a bigger display—“

“And Tifa was so gorgeous and sweet, how could I say no?” Aerith fondly placed her hand over Tifa’s as she reached over the table. “And then I asked her on a date around that time, too, and well… the rest is history!”

“It took us a couple years to get to where we are now,” Tifa continued. “In the meantime, I’d been promoted to manager of the bar, and Cloud had moved on to doing less violent freelance jobs around Radiant Garden, so when we had enough money, we pitched in to help Aerith open up an actual shop.”

“Wow,” Squall remarked. “Sounds like all the hard work paid off.”

“It really did,” Aerith said as she affectionately smiled at Tifa.

“So… what do you think of the eggplant parmesan?” Tifa asked Squall.

“It’s wonderful,” Squall answered with a smile. “You’re a good cook.”

Tifa clasped her hands together. “Oh, you really think so?”

“Of course he does! Everyone loves your cooking!” Aerith told her.

Tifa blushed. “Well, it’s been such a long time since we’ve had a guest over… No one except for Cloud and Aerith has been able to give me any feedback.”

“Do you cook, Squall?” Aerith asked.

Squall shrugged. “Um… I guess I can cook a few things. Nothing like this, though.”

“How about Zell?”

“Awful,” Squall scoffed. “Doesn’t even try.”

“Cloud is also useless in the kitchen,” Aerith told Squall with a grin.

“Hey, you hardly ever cook, either!” Cloud protested.

Aerith giggled as she smiled at him, then she turned to Squall. “Isn’t it adorable how Cloud gets so offended by any little thing you say about him?”

“I do not,” Cloud argued, narrowing his eyes at Aerith.

Squall broke into a laugh at this. Then Cloud gave him a dark stare. “It really is any little thing that sets him off, isn’t it?”

Cloud felt his jaw clench. “Really? After I apologized and helped you out today—you’re going to act like a jerk again?”

Tifa tilted her head and frowned. “Cloud…”

“Sorry, I guess we really did offend you,” Squall answered. “But you might benefit from actually admitting when you do get offended, Cloud.”

“Why? To help you figure out whether you should apologize or not?” Cloud answered. 

Aerith shook her head. “Cloud, don’t make this about Squall—“

“It’s fine, I deserved that,” Squall interrupted as he answered Cloud. “But that was between us, Cloud. Are you really going to let a little wisecrack from Aerith ruin your dinner?”

“I’m done eating,” Cloud replied. Then he stood up and made to go walk toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Tifa asked.

“Out,” Cloud replied.

Squall stood up and Cloud heard his heavy steps behind him. He turned around to face Squall, noting the scowl on his mouth.

“You’re not walking out that door,” Squall told Cloud.

“Oh—no, Squall, it’s fine!” Tifa protested.

“No, it’s not.” He walked up closer to Cloud, so that he was almost cornering him against the door. “It’s rude.”

Cloud narrowed his eyes as he stared up at Squall. “Are you trying to pick a fight with me now?”

Squall let a smirk curve up the side of his mouth. “Sure, I could take you.”

“Oh, I bet you could…” Cloud replied with a grin.

“Both of you…knock it off!” It was Tifa who shouted after she slammed a fist on the table, causing both Cloud and Squall to freeze and face her. “No one is going to fight anyone! Now can we all agree to act like adults and can you two finish one meal together in peace?”

Squall and Cloud glanced at each other awkwardly.

“Maybe it’s time I went home,” Squall started.

“No, you should stay,” Cloud argued. “The girls like having you here—and I don’t want to get in the way of your budding friendship."

“Cloud…”Aerith groaned.

“No, I’m glad to leave!” Cloud said. “Then you can talk about me all you want while I’m not here.” 

+

“Sorry for the way Cloud was today,” Aerith said after everyone was done eating, and she and Tifa were clearing the table.

Squall uneasily glanced down. “Today? You mean he’s not like that all the time?”

“Not with us,” Tifa answered with a sad frown. “But… he is like that with pretty much anyone else.”

Squall scoffed, “So he’s like a cat, then…”

“I think so, too!” Aerith laughed, but then she quickly stopped and cleared her throat. “Actually… Cloud can be quite sweet once you get to know him. And he’s loyal and willing to do anything for the people he cares about—to the point of bringing out the claws, if you know what I mean.”

“Seems like he’s always ready to bring out the claws,” Squall muttered.

Tifa softly laughed. “He really is a good person, deep down. I’m sorry that he’s been so rude to you.”

“Well, he helped me out today, and he actually apologized for his previous rudeness. I guess that means he doesn’t hate me as much as I thought he did, or he would have let me get stabbed,” Squall remarked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Cloud would never,” Aerith seriously told Squall. “He can be a bit…prickly, but letting someone get hurt on his watch? Never.”

“Well… I think that’s the extent of his warm feelings toward me,” Squall replied. “I don’t need him to like me—but I just hope now that I’m your friend, that it might not be so awkward to see each other.”

“Cloud will come around one day,” Tifa told Squall with a gentle look. “You two aren’t that different, after all.”

Aerith turned to Squall and gave him a knowing look. “It’s true… Cloud might be a bit immature, but he wasn’t completely wrong about you.”

Squall furrowed his brow in confusion. “Huh?”

“You _do_ start it sometimes,” Aerith said with a smirk.

Squall uneasily glanced to the side. “What?”

“You like to poke at him, admit it!”

Squall crossed his arms and replied, “Cloud is easy to rile up. One hardly has to try.”

“But you do it anyway,” Aerith said as she pointed a finger in Squall’s face. “I don’t blame you, though! He really is cute when he gets all huffy and puffy over such small things.”

“It’s not cute,” Squall muttered.

“Oh, Squall… just admit that you enjoy poking at him,” Aerith needled.

“I do not,” Squall stubbornly replied.

Tifa softly chuckled at this exchange. “You know, I think you and Cloud actually looked like you were having the most fun together when you got up in each other’s faces, ready to fight.”

Aerith put a finger to her chin as if she just had a breakthrough. “Actually… it’s kind of like you two enjoy fighting with each other!”

“How could I enjoy fighting with him? He’s exhausting,” Squall replied.

“I don’t know…” Tifa coyly smiled at Squall. “I mean, I don’t think Cloud has ever looked happier around you.”

“And you seemed to be enjoying yourself, too,” Aerith chimed in.

Squall sighed and rolled his eyes. “Now I understand why Cloud left, now that you two are ganging up on me…”

+

It had been about a week since the incident in the underground gardens, and Squall had mostly healed from his wound. He decided to keep his patrols above ground this time, and was back to walking the town circuit. He appreciated that now it was almost winter, all the shops were decorated for the holidays, and the colorful lights in the windows and strung along the rooftops added an extra charm to the already quaint Radiant Garden.

“Hey, Mr. Leonhart!”

It was Sora, a small teenage boy who had recently been trying to hang around Squall. Squall had one day stepped in to stop Sora from getting in over his head and taking on another kid’s bullies who were much larger than himself. Ever since then, it was like he was Sora’s hero (and Sora actually proclaimed it to his face).

“Oh, you again…” Squall said with a roll of his eyes. “What can I do for you, Sora?

A brief look of uncertainty flashed in Sora’s eyes, but then he smiled wide. “Hey, you still remember my name!”

Squall crossed his arms and blinked as he waited for the boy to continue.

“Haha, yeah… uh, I heard about your arm!” Sora said with a worried look. “Well—I guess I didn’t hear about it so much as see you walking around with that bandage—but anyway, I want to patrol with you! So I can take out any ruffians who try to mess with you myself!"

Squall raised an eyebrow. “I don’t need a kid’s help.”

Sora’s eyes fell. “But…”

Squall sighed. “Shouldn’t you go and play with other kids your age or something?”

“But… I want to get strong like you, Mr. Leonhart!” Sora protested. “I want to become a SeeD someday!”

Squall stopped and glanced down at the cobblestone, his heart sinking. “Don’t be so sure about that, Sora.“

“Huh?” Sora caught up with him and was looking up at Squall, waiting for elaboration.

“You’re still young. What do you really like to do?” Squall asked the boy.

“Umm… I don’t know… Help people I guess?”

Squall smiled. “So why would a nice kid like you want to be a SeeD?”

“You help people all the time! And SeeDs are brave and they make a lot of money.” Sora grinned brightly and gave Squall a thumb’s up gesture.

Squall softly laughed. “Well, the last part is true.”

“The other stuff is true, too. About you, at least,” Sora told him in a more serious voice.

Squall stared at Sora in astonishment, then he reached forward and ruffled his hair. “You have too good of a heart to want to be a SeeD.”

Sora pouted and wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Hey, Mr. Leonhart… I still wanted to ask…”

Squall shut his eyes and sighed. “You really want to patrol with me that badly?”

“Yes! I do!” 

“…Fine. But just for today.”

“Yes!!!” Sora literally jumped in joy and Squall shook his head (though a smile still crept its way onto his face).

“So… what happened with the arm?” Sora asked after he and Squall had been walking for a couple minutes. “I heard you fought off a dozen men all by yourself!”

“It wasn’t that many men. And I had a little help,” Squall answered with a shrug.

“Really? Well, you’re still cool. Think it’ll leave another scar?” Sora asked.

“Nah, it wasn’t that bad.”

“Wow…I want to be that tough someday!” Sora wistfully said as he flexed his scrawny arms.

Squall laughed at that, but when he turned to face forward, he stopped laughing and froze in his tracks. Cloud was walking in their direction with a bundle of flowers in his arm. Squall hadn’t seen or talked to him since that disastrous dinner at his apartment.

“What is it, Mr. Leon—“

“Oh—you,” Cloud stuttered as soon as he crossed Squall’s path—and also stopped walking.

“You,” Squall replied, as if that was a perfectly normal way to greet someone. He mentally facepalmed as soon as it came out of his mouth.

After a few seconds’ silence just staring at each other, Cloud cleared his throat and asked, “Who’s the kid?”

Squall suddenly remembered that Sora was standing next to him. “Uh…”

“Hi, I’m Sora!” Sora immediately walked over and outstretched his hand for an introduction. “Are you a friend of Mr. Leonhart’s?”

Cloud ignored Sora’s hand and met eyes with Squall before answering. “We know each other.”

Squall uncomfortably pursed his lips. “Well, you look busy—we’ll be on our way.”

“Hey…I think I’ve seen you around—you’re the guy who delivers Aerith’s flowers!” Sora exclaimed. “What’s your name?”

“Cloud.”

“You weren’t the one who helped Mr. Leonhart out with those thugs the other day, were you?” Sora asked.

“How did you know?” Cloud asked, tensing his brow.

“I just guessed,” Sora said as he awkwardly scratched his chin. “But you must be as cool and tough as Mr. Leonhart if you fought right beside him!”

Squall felt his cheeks warm as he saw the smile creep on Cloud’s face. 

“And you must be Mr. Leonhart’s number one fan…” 

Squall couldn’t tell if Cloud was being sarcastic or not.

Sora frowned. “Hey, are you making fun of me?!”

“No… he could use more fans,” Cloud responded, again in that not-quite-sarcastic tone.

Squall raised an eyebrow. “You know, Sora—Cloud _is_ pretty tough. You might want to shadow him one day, too.”

Cloud’s brow tensed. “What?”

Sora’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Mr. Cloud, I want to get strong one day, so if you could help me—”

“Not interested, kid,” Cloud interrupted. “Anyway, I have to go deliver these flowers.”

Sora’s smile dropped. “Oh.”

Squall crossed his arms and he sighed. “Let’s get going, Sora.”

Sora brightened up and waved at Cloud. “It was nice meeting you anyway, Mr. Cloud! Does he have a last name?”

“I think you should go ahead and keep calling him Mr. Cloud,” Squall suggested with a smirk.

+

Over the next week, Cloud spent more time on foot than sitting inside the flower shop. The holidays were just around the corner, and flower and holiday wreath orders had him and Aerith busier than ever.

But ironically, he kept seeing Squall everywhere in town now—often with that kid Sora tagging along. 

During one of his flower deliveries, Cloud was walking through the town square when he saw Squall in casual clothes, teaching Sora how to use a sword properly. When Sora finally landed a good hit on Squall with a wooden sword, Cloud watched as Squall gave the boy a warm, bright smile. And then Sora gave Squall a beaming smile as the man ruffled his hair—and something within Cloud ached as he witnessed that moment.

It was like a sense of longing… but for what?

He walked away quickly, lest he got caught staring, and went on his way to deliver his flowers to a house in the old Bailey district.

+

  
  


Squall had been finishing up another early afternoon patrol when he saw Tifa running toward him in the town square. She was out of breath, but smiled in relief when she found him. But there was something off about her smile, because she had a troubled look in her eyes.

“Squall! Thank goodness, I found you!”

“Tifa…” Squall raised his brows in concern. “Is everything okay?”

Tifa shook her head. “Cloud’s missing.”

“Missing?”

“He hasn’t come home in two days since going out on a delivery," Tifa explained. “This isn’t like Cloud—he’s never not shown up to pick me up when he said he would… He hasn’t called, and his bike’s still at home—so I have no idea where he could be! I’m scared something might have happened to him.”

“So… you want me to find him for you?” Squall asked Tifa.

“I know you have other things to do for SeeD but… please tell me you can help us find Cloud!" Tifa desperately pleaded. "I can even pay you!”

“Don’t be ridiculous—you don’t have to pay me, Tifa.” Squall sighed and asked, “Where was Cloud last seen?”

“He was headed towards the old Bailey district. We know that the flowers were delivered, but…something must have happened to him after.” Tifa’s voice began to grow thick as tears welled up in her eyes. “But I already searched the route and found no trace of him...”

Squall placed a comforting hand on Tifa’s shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can to find him.”

“Thank you, Squall.” Tifa wiped the tears from her eyes.

+

Squall traveled to the address that Tifa gave him, where Cloud had last been seen. He walked all over the neighborhood and asked any civilians he came across if they had noticed anything suspicious, but there was nothing that helped him get any closer to finding Cloud. Squall decided perhaps he’d search the underground gardens next, since Cloud seemed to use that sometimes to get home. He might be missing because he could have gotten hurt down there, or—

“Looking for your boy?”

Squall turned around, and saw a guy with light brown hair fashioned into some kind of mullet.

“Excuse me?” he asked, with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Don’t recognize me?” the young man asked. “You and your friend beat the crap out of me and my buddies the other day.”

Squall crossed his arms. “Oh… back for more?”

The young man chuckled. “On the contrary, your friend’s getting a taste of his own medicine.”

Squall frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come find out for yourself. In the underground purification facility. Come alone at sundown.”

“Well, that obviously sounds like a trap, so I think I’ll pass,” Squall replied.

The man furrowed his brow in perplexity. “What?”

“You’ll have to do better than that to try and fool me into an ambush,” Squall replied.

“I’m telling the truth!” the young man replied. “We have the flower delivery boy—and we’ll break all his bones if you don’t come get him!”

“Oh really?” Squall said with a flick of his eyebrow. “Go ahead, then.”

“Hm?”

Squall shrugged. “With that attitude, he’s probably pissed off a lot of people in Radiant Garden. Probably had it coming…”

“You… really don’t care?”

“He’s not my friend, and I never asked him to get involved,” Squall said with an annoyed sigh. “So run back to your friends and tell them I’m not coming—unless you’d like to take me on by yourself right now.”

The young man mumbled to himself ‘they got the wrong guy to do this bit’ and he ultimately ran away from Squall.

_Well, that was easy,_ Squall thought to himself. _But if he’s telling the truth…_ _Cloud, how did you let these clowns get the jump on you?_

+

Cloud’s face was splashed with water yet again to make him wake up after having been knocked out for the fifth time in two days. He shivered in the chair he had his arms and legs tied to. His head was sore and throbbing, and his limbs ached with the cuts and bruises he’d received from trying to escape and smart-talking his captors—who were not very smart people at all.

All Cloud remembered before that was that he had just delivered a holiday wreath to a little old lady in the old Bailey district, and once he left her house, something heavy had crashed on his head, causing him to fall down a set of stairs and pass out. Then he woke up here, surrounded by the most obnoxious miscreant goons.

One of the more cowardly goons, a young guy with a mullet, had just ran back into the underground hideout, breathing out heavily. “Boss—the SeeD didn’t take the bait! Just told us to go ahead and beat up the guy we grabbed!”

“What?” the boss, a man in an eyepatch, replied with a sneer.

“He’s not coming,” the flunky replied, shying away from the hard stare of his leader.

Cloud had to laugh at that.

“Looks like we’ll have to rough this pretty boy up some more, then,” the leader told his crew. “Maybe this time, we could send the SeeD pictures!”

“Why the hell did you think he’d come after me? We’re not friends,” Cloud muttered.

“Oh yeah? Then why did you join in on that fight with him?”

“I was just passing by. Three to one isn’t a fair fight, so I stepped in to even the odds, and rightfully handed you and your clown friends’ asses to you,” Cloud said with a smug stare.

“B-b-but he goes to that flower shop pretty often!” the guy with the mullet protested. “You two are buddies!”

Cloud sighed. “This is so stupid…”

“Well, if we can’t use you, then we’ll move on to using that kid who follows him around like a little puppy.” The man in the eyepatch sinisterly grinned. “Surely the SeeD won’t be able to abandon that little whelp.”

“Don’t you dare touch the kid!” Cloud growled.

“Wow, you do care after all…” The leader snickered and said, “In that case, you better hope your buddy comes to get you so the kid stays unharmed.”

+

After his encounter with one of Cloud’s apparent kidnappers, Squall went to Tifa’s apartment to give her an update.

“I know where Cloud is,” Squall told Tifa upon her opening the door.

“Is he alright?” she asked.

“I don’t know… The same thugs who tried to jump me have him hostage. They’re trying to get me to come alone so they could ‘teach me a lesson.’”

“That’s despicable!” Tifa scowled and marched out the door.

Squall stopped her by placing his hands on her arms. “Hold on, Tifa—I can’t have you get involved.”

“Why? Because I’m a woman?” Tifa asked with a scowl.

“No! Of course not,“ Squall sighed. “But Cloud got kidnapped because of me, and if anyone else got hurt because of me… I’d never forgive myself.”

“Well, there has to be something I can do. I can’t just sit here while my best friend is getting tortured!”

“They want me to come alone. If we both show up, who knows what they’ll do to Cloud…”

Tifa sadly glanced down. “But if you go alone…”

“I can handle it,” Squall told her with a smile.

Tifa put her hands on her hips. “You sound just like Cloud… Stubborn, prideful, and completely in over your head!”

Squall’s smile faltered and he creased his brow in offense. 

+

“It’s getting pretty late… Maybe the SeeD wasn’t bluffing after all,” one of Cloud’s captors remarked.

“Shows what kind of heartless bastards they all are,” the leader with the eyepatch replied. “All SeeDs care about is getting paid.”

“Well, then… what do we do with this blonde jerk?” the guy with the mullet asked.

“How about you cowards untie me and try to take me on by yourselves?” Cloud smirked. “Must feel embarrassing that you were only able to knock me out when I wasn’t looking—and you can’t even get Squall to fall for your stupid—“

“Cloud!” 

Cloud whipped his head around to see Squall running down the steel ramp of the facility’s entrance, with his gunblade in hand.

Cloud groaned as he hung his head forward. “You actually came for me? You’re stupider than I thought...”

Squall frowned at him as soon as he got within talking distance. “Wow, even when I’m saving your ass, you’re still so rude!”

“I think you have a slightly bigger problem than that,” Cloud muttered. 

The goons surrounded Cloud and gathered in a group as they squared up to take on Squall.

“You really went to the trouble of kidnapping this ungrateful jerk because you thought that would make me fall into a trap?” Squall groaned. 

The man with the eyepatch walked up to Squall. “Well, it worked.”

Squall glared at him. “I’m doing a favor for a friend.” Then he glanced back at Cloud. “Tifa was worried about you—Aerith, too, I’m sure—but Tifa was the one who came to tell me you were missing. I’ve never seen her so distraught.”

“Tifa…” Cloud softly gasped.

The man with the eyepatch cackled. “Well, this time you’re not going to get any help, SeeD!”

“Then I guess I have no choice but to not hold back.” Squall smirked and took his gunblade from his shoulder, and swung it down swiftly, purposely missing the thug by a couple inches.

“Ah-ah-ah…” Another man put a knife to Cloud’s throat. “Put the weapon down, or we slit your friend’s throat!”

“Squall, don’t listen! They don’t have the guts to—“ Cloud stopped talking when the point of the knife was pressed against his throat, piercing him slightly.

“Fine,” Squall said as he slowly lowered his gunblade to the ground. 

“You gullible idiot,” Cloud growled.

“You’re the idiot who let yourself get caught by these clowns in the first place,” Squall argued.

“How was I supposed to expect someone to drop a vase on my head after a flower delivery to a little old lady?” Cloud retorted. “And I don’t know why they thought I was someone you’d even care to come save!”

“Funny—neither do I,” Squall countered.

The leader of the miscreant crew cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt this lovers’ spat, but—the SeeD is unarmed! Let’s get him, boys!”

Cloud could do nothing but watch as Squall fought against the 13-member crew single-handedly. They all had weapons this time and Squall took some pretty hard hits, but he was able to overpower the thugs by agilely dodging and baiting them into falling and knocking into each other. Cloud was actually impressed at how easy it looked for Squall—to keep getting up even after taking hard hits, outlasting his opponents’ stamina.

At the end of it, Squall stood hunched over while the entire crew lied unconscious (apart from the ones who had already run away). 

“Come on…” Squall groaned as he started to untie the ropes on Cloud’s wrists.

“You really got your ass kicked,” Cloud said with a dry laugh.

“Whatever… I still won the fight,” Squall mumbled as he undid the rest of the ropes.

Once Cloud was free, he examined his bruised and reddened wrists. When he stood up, he stumbled and hissed in pain, realizing one of his ankles had been sprained—most likely during his fall down the stairs from that little old lady’s house.

Squall caught him by the arm and placed a hand on the small of his back. “You all right?”

Cloud looked over at Squall in surprise, noting the blood dripping from his lip and the cuts he had on his face. “Squall…”

“What, is that concern?” Squall asked as he gave Cloud a smirk. Then he bowed over in pain as he gritted his teeth.

Cloud shook his head and helped support him as he swung Squall's arm over his own shoulder. “You can barely walk, too...”

Squall breathed in sharply as he let Cloud shoulder him. “Thanks.”

“Thank you for coming to get me—even if you only came because Tifa asked,” Cloud told him.

“I didn’t come just because Tifa asked,” Squall quietly said. “Honestly, I would have hated if anything bad happened to you on my account.”

“Really?” Cloud earnestly asked. “Why?”

“I guess I like you,” Squall said.

“Wow… you really must have gotten hit hard,” Cloud remarked.

Squall chuckled. “Fine, I take it back then.”

Cloud flattened his eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

Squall laughed again, then started coughing as he grabbed at his ribs.

Cloud sighed as he helped Squall walk up the stairs, even as he had a hard time with his swollen ankle. When they made their way back to the surface, Tifa was waiting as she sat against the hood of Squall’s car—with the knocked out bodies of four runaway thugs close by.

Cloud gasped, “Tifa…?!”

“Cloud!” Tifa exclaimed as she rushed to meet him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. “Are you okay?”

Cloud smiled as he hugged her back. “Yeah… thanks to Squall.”

“Geez, Tifa… did you take out these guys by yourself?” Squall weakly asked.

She pulled away from Cloud and then frowned at Squall. “They were smallfry—and it looks like you should have let me go down there with you like I insisted!”

+

Tifa drove Cloud and Squall to the hospital, despite both of their protests—and Aerith had shown up shortly afterward to scold, hug, and then kiss the both of them. Zell had shown up a little later, and Squall spent most of that time grumbling at Zell to stop hugging him—although Cloud had a bit of sympathy, since Zell’s crushing hugs were actually hurting Squall.

The doctor said that both Cloud and Squall would have to stay overnight, and they shared the same hospital room with their beds right next to each other. Cloud couldn’t complain too much as he rested in his hospital bed—after all, he had a great view of the window with the colorful fairy lights on display, and it looked like it was starting to snow outside.

“So… how many broken bones you got?” Squall finally asked, once they were finally alone.

“Just a sprain on my ankle and a minor concussion,” Cloud answered. “You?”

“Three fractures. One in my hand and two in my ribs,” Squall nonchalantly replied.

“Fuck,” Cloud softly remarked. “I’m sorry you got hurt that bad just to save me…”

“If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else,” Squall answered. “And it’s actually my fault you got hurt in the first place, since they thought you were my friend.”

Cloud glanced down and sighed. “Squall… did you really mean it, when you said you liked me?”

Squall breathed out a laugh. “Are you going to get sentimental over that?”

“Fine then, forget it,” Cloud snapped.

“I meant it,” Squall replied, sounding serious this time. “When you’re not annoying, you’re actually kind of fun to be around. In a twisted way.” Squall smiled. “Aerith and Tifa said they thought we had the most fun together when we were at each other’s throats.

Cloud wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Then… if you like me, why are you so nice to everyone else and not me?”

“I’m nice to you! Or… at least I tried to be,” Squall argued. “You’re the one who didn’t like when I was nice to you, remember?”

“Well… I wouldn’t _not_ like that anymore,” Cloud said, not quite looking Squall in the eye.

Squall softly laughed and then he grew quiet. “Hey, Cloud… Do you think we could be friends?”

Cloud looked over at him, skeptically frowning. “You want to be my friend?”

Squall shrugged, and then winced at the painful movement.

“Sure. We could be friends,” Cloud answered.

“Cool.” Squall smiled and then rested back on his pillow and closed his eyes.

Cloud stared at him, wondering if he was going to actually fall asleep.

“I can feel you staring at me,” Squall said.

Cloud felt his cheeks flush. “I wasn’t staring! Way to end a conversation, by the way…”

Squall curved his lips into a smirk. “Why do you always have to have the last word with me?”

“Because then I’d let you have the last word and you’d say something dumb like _cool_ ,” Cloud said, mimicking Squall’s lower voice.

Squall chuckled, and didn’t say anything else. His deep breathing and the way his head dropped to the side seemed to indicate he was really falling asleep this time.

Cloud smiled to himself when he rested his head back on his own pillow.

_Friends, huh…?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading! Stay tuned for more...
> 
> And happy holidays to anyone celebrating this month! ♥


	4. Chapter 4

“Isn’t this great? Just guys bein’ dudes!” Zell cheerfully gazed out at the blue lake water, watching the bait at the end of his fishing line bob in the water. Squall and Cloud shared skeptical glances and sighs with each other as they sat in the cramped rental boat with fishing poles in their hands.

It had been a little over three months since Squall and Cloud had made peace with each other, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to be in each other’s company these days. They were at a lake a couple hours’ drive away from Radiant Garden at Zell’s behest that the three of them spent time together. Zell told Cloud he had no excuse to not go with him since he’d asked Aerith to make sure when he had time off of work, and Squall couldn’t get out of going as Zell’s roommate. 

“Zell—we haven’t caught anything and we’ve been out here for three hours,” Squall complained.

Zell shook his head in contempt. “Squall, don’t you know that fishing is all about the art of patience?”

“More like the art of boredom,” Squall muttered.

Cloud cracked a quiet laugh.

“Hey, you actually got Cloud to laugh!” Zell exclaimed.

Cloud looked away. “Well, it’s been so boring, that even Squall’s corny jokes have become funny.”

Squall tensed his brow. “Hey…”

Zell pouted and let out a heavy sigh. “Ugh, why did I think inviting you two to go fishing would be fun? You’re both party poopers.”

“You call this a party?” Squall scoffed. “Zell… If we don’t catch a fish in the next five minutes, we’re going home.”

“Squall...” Zell whined.

“I agree with Squall,” Cloud added.

Squall raised an eyebrow. “That’s a first.”

“Don’t get so excited about it,” Cloud mumbled.

“Damn, even when you guys are nice to each other… you’re still kind of mean,” Zell said with an awkward laugh.

Both Squall and Cloud huffed out a sigh at the same time and crossed their arms. Zell laughed at this.

“Five minutes, Zell,” Squall reiterated.

+

They didn’t catch any fish, and Zell was despondent as he sat in the passenger seat of Squall’s car on the way back to Radiant Garden. Cloud sat in the backseat and suggested a place on the road where they could go eat since it had been hours since any of them had a meal.

“This looks like a nice little burger joint,” Zell remarked as they arrived at the Highwind Cafe. “Smells great, too!”

Squall thought it was just going to be a convenient, short stop on their way back to Radiant Garden—but after he ordered a burger with no onions, he was annoyed to find that once their food was delivered to them, his burger still had a big pile of chopped white onions right underneath the top bun.

He placed a palm on his forehead. “Ugh, I asked for no onions.”

“Just give 'em to me, Squall. I’ll eat 'em,” Zell offered.

“No, I need to ask for another burger,” Squall said as he started to rise from his seat.

Zell reached over and placed a hand on his arm. “Squall, it’s not a big deal—we shouldn’t bother these people at such a tiny place. They probably don’t get many customers.”

“But I can still taste the onions even if I take them out,” Squall complained.

Cloud scoffed. “What kind of weirdo doesn’t like onions in their burger?”

“What kind of weirdo drinks milkshakes with their burger?” Squall countered.

Cloud glared at him. “Hey, they’re famous for their milkshakes here!”

“Yeah, well, not for their onions…”

“Do you guys really have to argue about everything?” Zell asked uneasily.

“Stay out of it, Zell!” both Cloud and Squall snapped.

“Fine…geez!” Zell grumpily took a bite out of his burger.

“Look, I’ll just give you my bun that has no onions on it, then you can stop being such a baby about it,” Cloud grumbled.

Squall huffed out a sigh as he narrowed his eyes. “It’s just not right—I specifically asked for no onions—that annoying cashier even gave me a hard time about it… But fine.”

He sat back down and waited for Cloud to trade hamburger buns with him, while Zell scooped up his onions.

“Happy now?” Cloud asked.

“I can still taste the onions a bit,” Squall complained after he finished taking a bite of his burger.

“Geez, Squall… didn’t know you hated onions so much,” Zell said with a chuckle.

“Maybe if you drink a milkshake, it’ll help balance it out,” Cloud suggested.

Squall gave him a judgmental stare. “No, thanks.”

“You hate milkshakes, too?” Cloud asked.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had one,” Squall answered.

“Well, you can try one right now. Unless you’re too good for that…” Cloud said before giving him a smirk.

“Fine, I’ll try one—just to prove you have weird taste.” Squall stood up and walked to the counter. They were the only people there, so there was no line.

“Oh, the fussy one is back who doesn’t like onions!” The middle-aged blond manager of the Highwind Cafe announced this from the kitchen, hand on his hip as he hunched over and narrowed his eyes at Squall. “What is it now?”

Squall glared at the man and was convinced that if he remembered Squall’s order so well, the onions were put in his burger on purpose. “Can I just order something?”

“Don’t worry, Cid—I got it!” the girl with short black hair cheerfully replied, bumping him away with her hip before she took her place at the cash register. “What’ll it be?”

“A milkshake—strawberry flavored,” Squall ordered.

“Interesting choice,” the girl said as she punched in the order on her cash register.

Squall raised an eyebrow. “Why is that interesting?”

“It’s not—I just knew saying that would make you frown, and it did!” the cashier giggled.

Squall rolled his eyes and scowled while he placed down his money on the counter. “Keep the change.”

After a short wait for his milkshake, Squall sat back down at the table and muttered, “Zell, this is the last time we ever go fishing. Then we never have to come back here, either.”

Zell pulled his mouth into a pout. “What’s wrong?”

“This has been such an exhausting day—and the people here are even more exhausting,” Squall complained.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “I actually think they’re pretty nice here.”

“Well you love their onions and milkshakes, so of course they’re nice to you,” Squall said with a mean look at Cloud.

Cloud stifled a laugh. “Wow…”

“What?” Squall asked.

“It’s refreshing to not be the most miserable asshole in a group for once,” Cloud answered with a smirk.

Zell choked on the bite of burger he was eating, and hit his chest with a fist multiple times to dislodge it from his throat—causing both Cloud and Squall to grimace in disgust as it landed on the table. Zell gasped for air and snatched up his soda to take a drink.

“Get it together, Zell,” Squall said as he slapped a palm to his forehead.

“Hey, did you try the milkshake?” Cloud asked Squall.

“Not yet.” Squall finally took his milkshake in hand and sipped from the straw for a couple seconds.

“Well…?” Cloud asked.

“It tastes weird…” Squall grimaced and covered his mouth with a napkin.

“Well, that’s because you got strawberry,” Cloud said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well at least strawberry is a fruit, which seems more appetizing than straight-up drinking milk with a burger…”

“It’s not the same as drinking milk!” Cloud argued. “It’s vanilla, by the way…”

Squall frowned. “God, I feel sick… How are you drinking this stuff?”

“I’ll drink the rest of yours, Squall!” Zell cheerfully added, immediately taking a sip. “It’s pretty good, actually!”

Cloud smiled in smug triumph, having convinced Zell. “Guess that makes you the weirdo, Squall…”

“Whatever…” Squall put his head in his hands and groaned.

+

  
  


“It was awful,” Squall said with a frown. He was sitting at the bar inside Seventh Heaven, relaying the story to Tifa and Aerith a few days later. “And I think Cloud and Zell actually became friends.”

Aerith was sitting next to Squall and laughed as she lightly tapped his arm. “Oh, you say that as if it’s a bad thing Cloud made a new friend! So you’re here with me and Tifa because we’re superior company?”

Squall shrugged.

A few seconds later, the bell tinkled on the door and Tifa looked up to see Cloud walk through the door.

“Tifa… you haven’t closed up yet?” he asked, a faint wrinkle of confusion on his brow.

“Well, the bar is closed, but we’re having a ‘private engagement,’” Tifa explained as she gestured to Squall and Aerith sitting across from her.

Squall turned to face Cloud. “Hey, Cloud…”

“Cloud, do you want to hang out for a bit before we head home?” Aerith asked.

“Uh… Sure,” Cloud said as he walked up to the counter. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“Not at all!” Aerith replied. 

“I had the later shift today, so I took time to come out here,” Squall told Cloud.

Cloud furrowed his brow. “You don’t need to explain why you’re here.”

Squall raised his eyebrows. “You don’t mind…?”

“Why would I?”

“You two should try out the new pool table,” Tifa suggested.

“We could all play,” Squall suggested.

“Oh, I’m terrible at it. Plus, I’d like some alone time with my girlfriend, if that’s okay,” Aerith told Squall in an impetuous tone.

“Oh…”

“Don’t take it personally,” Cloud said as he patted Squall’s shoulder. “They’re really not subtle about kicking me out of shared spaces at home, either.”

Squall awkwardly nodded and stood up before he and Cloud walked over to the pool table. 

Aerith leaned over the counter and took Tifa’s hands into hers as she pouted. “Not that I don’t love Squall… but this was supposed to be my surprise to come see you tonight. _Alone._ ”

“I don’t mind the extra company,” Tifa said with a soft laugh. “I do feel kind of bad that we’re forcing Squall to play with Cloud, though.”

Aerith quietly giggled. “I don’t! Besides, they love being together.”

Tifa glanced over to see Cloud and Squall arguing about how to set up the rack on the pool table. She sighed and then breathed out a laugh. “It sounds like Squall was the more miserable one on their trip, which is surprising. Cloud actually seemed happy that night when he came home, huh?”

“Who cares about them?” Aerith picked up the partition of the bar and quickly walked to the other side to give Tifa a kiss. 

“We should really make sure they don’t—“

“Tifa—you are not their mother,” Aerith sternly said. “If they get into another bratty little spat, then that’s their problem—not yours. Your hot, cute girlfriend is here to make out with you, so just focus on that!”

“You’re right…” Tifa smiled before she grabbed Aerith’s face with both hands and gave her a sweet, slow kiss. “I guess it would be nice if we could spend some time alone for once...truly alone, I mean.”

“Oh!” Aerith pulled away. “I just remembered what I was going to tell you—“ She reached across the counter to pick up her satchel and then pulled out a flyer from inside it.

“What’s this?” Tifa asked.

“It’s a contest!” Aerith cheerfully said as she handed the flyer to Tifa. “To win a ten-day cruise trip to Destiny Islands… Wouldn’t that be amazing?!”

Tifa’s eyes lit up. “Wow! But what are the chances we’d actually win?”

“You never know...!” Aerith said, winking as she playfully tugged on one of Tifa’s suspenders.

Tifa blushed. “I just don’t want to get my hopes up, that’s all!”

Aerith grinned. “You know what? We should plan a getaway trip for ourselves anyway. We don’t need to win a contest!”

Tifa blinked. “Really? You want to go on a trip together? Just the two of us?”

“Why not? We deserve it! Plus, it means we get to get away from Cloud and his boyfriend bickering all the time.”

Tifa giggled and put a finger to Aerith’s lips. “Shh! Don’t let them hear you say that…”

Aerith kissed Tifa’s finger before pulling her hand away, and then she smirked. “Well, they’re practically boyfriends with how much time they spend together now—even if they spend most of that time bickering like an old married couple!”

“Great shot,” Cloud said, sarcastically clapping at Squall. “I thought SeeDs were supposed to have really good aim.”

“And what’s your excuse for those two table scratches?” Squall grumbled.

“Just…goin’ easy on ya,” Cloud awkwardly replied.

“Sure you were,” Squall said with a narrow of his eyes, although his lips curved into a grin.

Tifa leaned an elbow on her counter as she smiled, looking upon them. “Do you think they’ll ever figure it out?”

Aerith laughed. “Oh, at this rate… it’ll probably take them years to figure it out! Meanwhile we all get tortured watching them flirt by way of insulting each other for every little thing… honestly it’s exhausting!”

“Well, maybe they just need to be in the right place and the right time to speed things up…” Tifa took the flyer from Aerith and began filling in the application on the back.

“That’s… Cloud’s name?!” Aerith said with a stifled laugh.

“Shh—we can’t let him know,” Tifa replied with a grin. “But… if he did win this contest, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to spend a good amount of time with one person alone on a romantic trip…don’t you agree?”

Aerith smiled as she brought a hand to Tifa’s face. “I love when my diabolical genius rubs off on you!”

“I love _you_ ,” Tifa said before she pulled Aerith in for another kiss.

+

Several weeks later, Cloud received a big red envelope in the mail. A burst of paper confetti shot into his face as he opened up the envelope, and then he picked up another envelope inside it to read a letter. 

“What the hell? This has to be a scam…” Cloud muttered.

“What is that?” Aerith asked, grinning as she walked over to Cloud. Tifa was right on her heels and they both hovered over Cloud’s shoulders to read the letter that was sent to him, along with a pair of two striped golden tickets.

Tifa gasped, “I can’t believe this…”

“Oh my—I didn’t think he’d actually win!” Aerith exclaimed as she put a hand over her mouth. “This is amazing!”

Cloud pouted. “Hey, did you have something to do with this? Is it a prank?”

“It’s not a prank! It’s real—look, it even has the official Radiant Garden seal!” Tifa excitedly pointed out. “Cloud, you won a cruise trip to Destiny Islands!”

Cloud furrowed his brow in confusion. “H-how…?”

“About a month ago, Tifa put your name in and sent an entry,” Aerith cheerfully explained.

Cloud blinked and shook his head. “This is so random… why did you do this?”

“You deserve a vacation,” Aerith said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “And you get to take someone with you! Isn’t this such good luck?!”

“I guess,” Cloud sighed. “But I can only take one person. I can’t choose between you and Tifa, though…”

Tifa smiled at him and said, “Well… why don’t you take Squall?”

“What? Why would I do that?” Cloud asked.

“Come on, you two are so close,” Tifa warmly replied.

Cloud knitted his brows. “Close? We argue half the time we’re together!”

“And the other half, you two are like peas in a pod,” Aerith added.

Cloud deepened his frown. “Me and that guy?”

Tifa giggled. “Come on, admit it! You two like spending time with each other—even though you bicker like an old married couple most of the time.”

Cloud scoffed. “Why do people always have to compare bickering to married couples? What about siblings? What about two people who just can’t stand each other?”

Tifa laughed. “Would you say you and Squall are like brothers?’

“No.”

“Just ask him to go with you, Cloud,” Tifa said with a pat on his shoulder.

“Well, he’s probably too busy to go on a big trip like this,” Cloud said as he looked back down at the letter.

“So you would ask him if he wasn’t busy?” Aerith asked, crossing her arms and giving Cloud a coy smile.

Clouds cheeks began to burn. “I need time to think about it…”

+

  
  


Later that week, Cloud decided to spend time in the Radiant Garden’s central square after work to walk around and people-watch. And to also avoid going home, where Aerith and Tifa had been pestering him 24/7 about who he was going to take on that cruise trip.

Squall and Sora were just walking by in the middle of the square—and Sora was rubbing his arms, looking like he was in pain.

“You’ll probably want to put ice on your arms tonight, Sora…” Squall told him with an uneasy smile. 

“I just don’t know how you can pick up your sword so easily! I can still barely lift it,” Sora said with a pout.

“Which is why you need to keep weightlifting if you really want to get as strong as me one day,” Squall nonchalantly replied.

Sora groaned. “I don’t know if it’s even worth it… Anyway, thanks for the training today! I’ll see you later, Mr. Leonhart!”

Sora scurried off and then Squall caught Cloud’s gaze after he turned to walk away. “Oh—Cloud. Interesting finding you here at this time of day...”

“I see you’re putting the kid through a grueling training program,” Cloud remarked with an amused flick of his eyebrows. 

Squall let out a quiet sigh as he walked up to Cloud. “Well, maybe if he gets tired of training, he won’t want to become a SeeD anymore.” Then a smile formed on his lips. “So, Aerith said you won a cruise trip.”

Cloud shifted his eyes away from Squall and groaned. _Of course Aerith told him…_

“I didn’t even put my name in,” Cloud explained. “Tifa and Aerith did as a joke.”

Squall’s smile grew. “So you’re not going?”

Cloud crossed his arms. “Haven’t decided yet. To be away for ten days… that’s a long time.”

“Like you couldn’t use the vacation,” Squall remarked.

“Well… being stuck on a boat for ten days doesn’t sound like that much fun,” Cloud answered.

“You at least get to stop in a few different places. And sailing’s not so bad once you get used to it.”

Cloud swallowed and felt his cheeks grow warm. “I… I get motion sickness.”

Squall turned to him with a wide-eyed look, and Cloud waited for him to make a joke at his expense. But to his surprise, Squall just furrowed his brow in sympathy. “Oh.”

“It’s embarrassing, I know…” Cloud said as he anxiously put a hand up to his neck. “It was fine when we went fishing with Zell—because we were stationary almost the whole time. But I’m not sure how well I could do on a boat that’s moving constantly for days at a time.”

“Well, they have pills for that, right?” Squall asked.

Cloud blinked as he looked over at him. “Sounds like you want me to go.”

Squall shrugged. “Well, if I had the chance to go on a free vacation, I would.”

Cloud nodded and then nervously crossed his arms over his chest as he prepared to casually ask his next question. “So… Do SeeDs get vacation days?”

“Well… Zell and I technically have to work everyday; we just split the day into shifts. But if I wanted to take a day off, Zell can pick up my duties like a double shift and we just keep track that way.”

“Oh,” Cloud said as he nodded.

“…Why?” Squall turned to him and smirked. “Were you gonna ask me to go with you?”

“No!” Cloud quickly replied.

Squall laughed. “Okay, geez…”

Cloud lost his fierce look and sighed. “Well… would you want to go? If I asked?”

“…Maybe.”

Cloud nervously swallowed. “Well, do you want to go?”

Squall turned to look at Cloud. “You’re asking me for real?”

“Yeah.”

Squall glanced down. “Wow, Cloud… that’s—”

“It’s not a big deal,” Cloud said with a frown. “I won a trip, there are two tickets, and I can’t choose between Tifa or Aerith—so do you want to go?”

Squall scrunched his mouth into a smile. “You really want to be stuck on a boat with me for ten days?”

Cloud let out an exasperated sigh. “Never mind!“

“Yeah,” Squall suddenly said.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I’ll go with you,” Squall said as he shoved his hands into his pockets, not quite looking Cloud in the eye.

Cloud felt his cheeks warm. “Oh. Okay…”

“When do we leave?” Squall asked.

“It’s in about a month.”

“Alright. Well, give me all the details and I’ll make sure to pick up extra shifts from Zell till then.”

Cloud nodded. “Okay.”

Squall nodded back. “Okay.”

“I’m gonna go home now,” Cloud said. Then he promptly turned around to walk home without another word.

+

  
  


Before Cloud knew it, the date of the cruise trip’s departure had arrived, and he was feeling sick to his stomach as he packed his things that morning.

“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been moaning and groaning all morning!” Tifa exclaimed with a worried look.

“I can’t do this, Tifa… I can’t go on this trip,” Cloud said as he wrapped his hands around his shivering arms.

Tifa sighed and tilted her head back in exasperation. “You’re not even on the boat yet, Cloud…”

Cloud swallowed heavily and shook his head. “This was a mistake. I should cancel—or you can go with Squall—maybe Zell can go with him!”

“Cloud—pull yourself together!” Tifa sternly told him. “You’ll be fine! And besides, you have to go—it’s in the rules that you can’t transfer your ticket to anyone else.”

Cloud sighed, and then picked up his head in a panic as soon as he heard the phone ring. “Shit, that’s probably Squall!”

He ran to go pick up the phone in the living room, and took in a deep breath before answering.

“Hello?”

“Cloud? Did you know the trip was cancelled?” Squall said, sounding unhappy.

“What?”

“The cruise—it’s been cancelled. The weather’s apparently really bad for sailing this week. Did you know about this?”

“…No,” Cloud replied. “I guess I haven’t checked my messages in a while.”

Squall sighed. “Well, there goes our vacation. But maybe they’ll reschedule it.”

“Uh, yeah, maybe…”

“Anyway, thanks for the invite. Guess I could save my time off for later, after all.”

“Yeah… Sorry I didn’t figure this out sooner.”

“It’s fine. Talk to you later.”

“Yeah—talk to you later.” Cloud hung up the phone, feeling a weird mix of relief and disappointment.

“That didn’t sound good…what happened?” Tifa asked.

“The cruise is cancelled because of bad sailing conditions,” Cloud explained.

“What? Oh no!” she sadly exclaimed.

“It’s… kind of a relief, actually,” Cloud sighed.

“Well, you should still go do something with Squall this week,” Aerith suggested.

Cloud bent his eyebrows in response. “Why?”

Aerith narrowed her eyes and groaned. “Are you that stupid, Cloud? You finally got the guts to ask Squall out and he said yes—and now you’re going to give up so easily?!”

Cloud glared at her. “I didn’t ask him out! And the only reason I was going on this cruise was because you and Tifa put my name in!”

Tifa and Aerith glanced at each other and shared a sly look. 

“Then… maybe you can go on another trip,” Aerith suggested.

Cloud blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Tifa bashfully put her hands behind her back. “Well, Aerith and I were going to take a vacation of our own this week while you were away on the cruise. There’s a resort in the country, in Twilight Town. Beautiful vineyards, wine tasting, and a dinner at the best bistro included. You can take our reservation!”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Tifa shrugged. “I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but…”

Cloud huffed out a sigh. “Look—I am not taking Squall on a romantic getaway! He and I… We’re just friends, so stop it!”

Aerith put her hands up in a placating manner. “Okay, Cloud… we were just trying to help.”

Cloud sighed again and shook his head. “Sorry, I guess I’m just a bit worked up this morning. Anyway, you two deserve to go on this trip together. I’ll take care of everything at home.”

+

  
  


A couple days later, Cloud was tending the counter at the flower shop in the early evening, and it was nearing closing time. No one was in the shop, so he had just started to tidy up when he heard the bell chime on the door.

“Is Aerith here?” 

Cloud turned around and was stunned to see Squall standing at the doorway in his casual clothes. 

“Uh… The girls are on a trip all week. Aerith won’t be back until Monday,” Cloud replied.

“Huh… Neither of them told me about it,” Squall said with a frown as he put a hand on his hip. “So that means you’ll be alone all week?”

Cloud made a slight pout of confusion, trying to figure out why he asked that. “Well, yeah…”

“Want to get dinner together after you close up?” Squall asked.

Cloud almost choked at hearing Squall’s question. “What?”

Squall replied, “Well, I assume since Tifa’s out of town, you’re probably not eating a home-cooked meal.”

“No…” Cloud was still stunned that Squall was asking him to go eat dinner with him.

Squall shrugged with a calm smile. “Well, let’s go—my treat. Unless… you want to treat?”

Cloud snapped out of his shock and smirked. “Sure, I could.”

“Really?”

“Sure, I could handle a rich guy’s dinner tab.”

Squall frowned. “Just because I make a lot of money doesn’t mean I only eat at expensive places.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Then where do you go?”

+

  
  


“You were concerned about me not eating a home-cooked meal but you want to get dinner at a hot dog stand?”

Cloud had his brows bent in perplexity before he took the first bite of his Garden Dog, which was just a regular footlong hot dog topped with onions and the Radiant Garden Special Sauce—which tasted just like mustard and ketchup mixed together.

Squall shrugged. “It’s not just any hot dog stand. These are the best hot dogs in Radiant Garden—and according to Zell, on his Top Five World’s Best Hot Dog list.”

“Of course he has a list like that…” Cloud muttered.

Squall chuckled. “Yeah, so what do you think?”

“Pretty good.” Cloud eagerly took another bite of the hot dog and Squall smiled.

“Not bad for a rich guy’s dinner tab, huh?” Squall remarked with a smug raise of his eyebrow.

“Yeah, whatever…” Cloud felt his cheeks warm and he glanced away from Squall. This was weird. The two of them just doing something normal together, without arguing? He wondered if it would have been like this if they had actually gone on that cruise together.

“We should do this more often,” Cloud said after they were both done eating.

“Really?”

Cloud shrugged. “Yeah—I mean, it wasn’t terrible.”

Squall smirked. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

+

  
  


“So… you gonna invite Cloud over one of these days?” Zell asked the next day, when he and Squall were sitting on their back porch in the early evening. “I could get out of the way…give you two some alone time?” 

Squall shot Zell a hostile stare. “Why would I do that?”

Zell shrugged. “Come on… you were gonna go on a cruise with him! That’s like… a honeymoon trip!”

Squall groaned. “Shut up, Zell…”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Cloud and I are friends, that’s all.”

“We’re friends, but you didn’t invite me to go have dinner with you last night,” Zell said with a raised eyebrow.

Squall rolled his eyes. “So what?”

Zell gave him a smug grin. “Come on… admit it, you like him!”

Squall blushed despite himself. “It’s not like that…”

“Really? Because you two act like an old married couple every time you’re together.”

“Zell…”

“Besides, you did take all those extra shifts already, you deserve the time off!”

Squall raised his hands up in exasperation. “Well, what do you expect me to do? Just hang out with Cloud in Radiant Garden? That’s a waste of a day off.”

“You know, most normal people enjoy having days off to do nothing with people they like…” Zell said with a raise of his eyebrow. “Hey… Have you considered that Cloud might have asked you to go on that cruise with him because he likes you?”

Squall quirked his brow and scoffed. “Please—Cloud wants to choke me half the time we’re together.”

“Well if the movies are anything to go by, that’s true romance, baby!” Zell winked at Squall as he said this last thing, and Squall had to slap a palm to his own forehead.

“Look, Cloud and I are just friends… And honestly, it’s a miracle if we’re able to spend time alone together and not kill each other. We probably would have made each other miserable on the cruise being stuck with each other for that long. Maybe it’s for the best that it got cancelled.”

“And yet...you still asked him to go to dinner last night…” Zell said.

“So?”

“So you like him!”

Squall gave him a dark stare. “Zell—for the last time, I don’t like Cloud like that...”

“Okay, okay… but I still think you should take some time off. You need to learn how to relax, Squall,” Zell told him with a serious stare.

Squall sighed. Maybe Zell did have a point about that…

+

  
  


Cloud was surprised to see Squall enter the flower shop again later that week. And he knew Aerith wasn’t there so—had he come just to see Cloud?

“Hey, what’s up?” Squall asked.

Cloud gave him a skeptical look. “Not much… Why are you here?”

Squall crossed his arms as he stopped in front of Cloud’s counter. “Do you want to go somewhere with me this week?”

“Huh?” was all Cloud could think to say as his eyes widened.

Squall sighed. “Zell convinced me I should still take some time off this week, but I don’t want to spend my free time in Radiant Garden. And well, you were supposed to go on a trip you didn’t get to go on, so… you wanna go somewhere together?”

Cloud rapidly blinked. “With you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Forget it, then…” Squall sighed and started to turn around.

“I didn’t say no,” Cloud said as he stood up quickly.

Squall turned back around with an optimistic look in his eyes. “So… you would want to go?”

“Where would we go?”

“…Let’s keep that a surprise.”

Cloud crossed his arms. “I hate surprises.”

Squall made a crooked smile. “It’s better if you don’t expect anything.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Wow… You’re finally going to do it, huh?”

Squall’s brow was furrowed in confusion. “Do what…?”

“Tifa and Aerith are gone for the week and Zell is clueless—he’s not gonna suspect if you take me to some remote place and I never come back. You’ll have no witnesses, I won’t be able to tell anyone where I’m going… it would be the perfect murder.”

Squall burst out into a laugh and covered his mouth with a hand. When he calmed down, he gave Cloud a smile and answered, “Cloud, if I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead. Anyway, does tomorrow night work for you?”

“Tomorrow night?” Cloud asked.

“Yeah, this place really looks its best at night.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Just what a serial killer would say…”

Squall quietly laughed. “So is that a yes?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Okay, then. See you later, Cloud.” Squall waved and then turned around.

Cloud watched him leave, and then a smile formed on his face. 

_Where could he want to take me?_

+

“Well… we’re here. Traverse Town,” Squall announced as they arrived at the small town that was just an hour’s drive away from Radiant Garden.

“Traverse Town?” Cloud repeated.

“Ever been here?” Squall asked.

Cloud shook his head. “I think I passed through it once when Tifa and I moved to Radiant Garden, but I’ve never actually spent time here to just visit.”

Traverse Town was a warmly lit town where all the buildings seemed to be garlanded by colorful lights and glowing neon fixtures among buildings that were shades of blue and periwinkle. The colors of the buildings along with their twinkling lights made the town look as if it blended with the early evening sky, dotted by bright stars. Cloud could hear a slow jazzy tune playing as a backdrop to the quiet stir of the 1st District. A few people were visiting the shops, sitting outside the cafe, or simply standing and chatting with each other in the middle of the square. 

“I go out here sometimes when I need to get away from Radiant Garden,” Squall said as he looked upon the square.

“You mean living in that mansion isn’t far enough removed?” Cloud asked.

“It’s a mansion I share with Zell,” Squall countered with a raised eyebrow. “And even if it wasn’t, solitude isn’t exactly an escape if you’re still stuck at home.”

“So you come here,” Cloud concluded.

“Yeah. This place… makes me feel calm. I stayed here for a week before I moved to Radiant Garden. It’s an in-between kind of place with very few locals, but it always feels like a home away from home,” Squall explained with a shrug.

Cloud gently smiled. “I could understand that.”

“Well, we could walk around or—there’s a good cafe, here.” Squall fidgeted with his pockets and asked, “You like coffee, right?”

Cloud tilted his head and nodded. “Yeah.”

Squall led Cloud to the small cafe in the 1st District and as they waited in line, he turned to him to ask for his order. “Let me guess? Café au lait? Or a latte?”

Cloud crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Just because I like milkshakes doesn’t mean I only drink beverages with milk in them…”

“So what are you gonna get?”

Cloud felt his cheeks grow warm. “A… white mocha latte…”

“Ha, I knew it…” Squall returned with a smug look.

“Well, what are you getting?” Cloud asked, with a raise of his eyebrows.

“A regular coffee. Black.”

“How boring,” Cloud scoffed.

“You’re boring,” Squall countered with a frown.

After they picked up their coffee drinks, Squall and Cloud walked around the town and Squall acted as an amateur tour guide of each of the districts. Cloud admired all the creatively designed neon lights, the whimsical fixtures on storefronts, and random works of art on the walls and fountains. His coffee was also really good. He’d have to come back here some time. Maybe even with Squall again. He seemed to really be enjoying himself as he took Cloud through some sketchy alleys and corners of the town to look at a ‘secret’ of the town or just some cool hidden artwork. Cloud had to admit he was really enjoying himself, too.

Squall picked up his pace as he led Cloud to the next thing he ‘had’ to see. It was just the first floor of an ornate building, and inside, it looked like the rooms of someone’s house—but the peculiar thing is that all the furniture seemed to be teeming with small Dalmatian puppies.

“The family that lives here always keeps the curtains on the outfacing windows open so that the Dalmatians can see visitors.” Squall bent down and pressed his hand up to the glass window where a couple puppies were standing on their hind legs, their tails wagging rapidly. He gave an endearing, gentle smile to the puppies through the glass, and Cloud had to admit that even his heart warmed at the sight.

“Wow…” Cloud remarked.

Squall turned to him. “What?”

“You love dogs…” Cloud smiled and then bent down to tap at the window where a chubby little puppy was rolling around on the carpet.

“I like animals as much as any other person,” Squall replied.

Cloud turned to look at Squall and noticed that his cheeks had turned pink. He smiled at that, too. “Well, I’ve just never seen you get this happy about anything…”

Squall shifted his gaze away from Cloud. “So I like puppies… what’s wrong with that?”

Cloud stood up and smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with that, just…”

Squall stood up and crossed his arms. “Just what?”

“Just… didn’t realize you could be so soft.”

Squall blinked at Cloud, his cheeks still rosy. “Whatever…”

“It’s not a bad thing,” Cloud said, smiling. “I’ve seen how much ass you can kick, anyway, so I’m not trying to insult your masculinity or anything.”

Squall smirked. “Good, because I wouldn’t have been insulted.”

Cloud chuckled and covered his mouth, then he saw Squall’s expression soften. 

“Well, do you like dogs?” Squall asked as they continued to walk past the house.

Cloud shrugged. “I never had one, so I don’t really know.”

“What about cats?”

“Maybe I’d like them…if they liked me.”

Squall smirked. “Funny… that’s kind of how I felt about you when we first met.”

Cloud was about to say something in reply to this, but then Squall took off and turned into an alleyway behind the Dalmatians’ house.

“Come on, Cloud.”

“Where are we going?” Cloud asked, feeling self conscious about potentially trespassing.

“Up.”

Cloud glanced up and saw that there was a ladder that led up to the bell tower above the Dalmatians’ house. 

+

  
  


“Is this trespassing?” Cloud asked as he followed Squall up the final ladder to the top of the bell tower.

“Probably,” Squall nonchalantly answered as he climbed up onto the roof.

Cloud scoffed. “I thought SeeDs were supposed to be really good at following rules.”

“Only when I’m on duty,” Squall replied.

Cloud rolled his eyes, but when he got up onto the roof, he had to stare in awe as he looked around him. From this height, he could see the entire town, twinkling and humming in its quiet beauty, and beyond that a dark, starry night sky.

“It’s a nice view, huh?” Squall asked.

Cloud silently nodded, then he sat down on the ledge of the building, enjoying the view as he listened to the faint jazz music that still played below in the square. Squall followed and sat next to him, resting his palms along the stone. 

“Hey, Squall… why did you want to bring me here?” Cloud suddenly asked. “I mean, this was nice—don’t get me wrong. I’m just… Well, why?”

He turned to Squall with a curious blink and Squall met his eyes with a subdued smile.

“We’re friends… right, Cloud?” he asked.

Cloud tilted his head and then nodded. “…Yeah.”

“Well, I don’t really make friends where I get stationed for missions,” Squall answered.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I guess… it keeps me from getting attached to anyone.”

“And you wouldn’t want that… because you end up moving around so much?”

“Yeah. If you don’t have friends, then you don’t have to say goodbye to anyone. Makes it easier that way.”

“Oh.” Cloud thought about it for the first time—Squall might end up leaving Radiant Garden one day.

“But… I’m glad I decided to make friends in Radiant Garden,” Squall continued.

Cloud smiled in response. “Sorry I didn’t make it that easy for you in the beginning…”

“Well, I didn’t make it easy for myself,” Squall said with a dry laugh. “Maybe we would have been friends sooner if I hadn’t been such a moron with a big mouth.”

“I think I might have been the bigger moron with the bigger mouth,” Cloud good-naturedly countered.

Squall curved the side of his mouth into a smile. “Yeah, you were…”

Cloud dryly laughed. “You know, I’m not used to making that many friends, either.”

“That’s not surprising.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” Squall chuckled. “At least when you are someone’s friend…well, you’re a good person to have at their back.”

Cloud smiled. “You are, too.”

Squall turned to him and smiled. “Wow, you sound like you actually mean that…”

Cloud nodded. “I do.”

Squall’s eyebrows rose. “Wow, you didn’t say that even a little sarcastically!”

Cloud rolled his eyes and groaned. “Do you really have to do this every time?”

“What?”

“Act fake-surprised when I show some maturity?”

“Sorry. Guess I still like to rile you up sometimes.” Squall grinned as he glanced down. “But you still insult me every chance you get…”

Cloud smirked at him. “So you should be extra flattered when I say nice things about you.”

Squall softly laughed as he met Cloud’s eyes. “Oh, I am…”

Cloud’s cheeks warmed and he couldn’t keep Squall’s gaze after he said it like that.

“Well, it’s about time we go home, right?” Squall stood up and dusted off his pants.

“Yeah, I guess…” Cloud got up to a stand and followed Squall to a ladder on the side of the bell tower that he said would get them down faster than going back through the building.

“Be careful going down this ladder, by the way—it’s very old and rickety,” Squall cautioned. “I’ll go first.”

As Squall took a couple steps down the steel ladder, Cloud heard a creak and groan of steel that didn’t sound good. Squall was too busy looking down to notice the top of the ladder had separated from the stone building.

“Squall!” Cloud cried out.

Squall gasped and quickly glanced behind him as the ladder started to fall away from the building. Cloud rushed to reach down and grasp him by the forearm before the ladder swayed off to the side. Squall grunted as he reached up with his other arm to grasp at the building’s edge. Cloud pulled him back up onto the roof in one move as the ladder loudly crashed onto the other side of the narrow corridor.

Cloud was on his back and had his arms around Squall’s shoulders—and that’s when he noticed the awkward position they were in, with Squall half straddling him and his face just an inch away from Cloud’s as he looked down at him.

Cloud felt his cheeks flame as he looked up into Squall’s eyes, and he asked, “You good?”

Squall rolled himself off of Cloud and answered, “Yeah, thanks.”

“You’re a dumbass,” Cloud said as he stood up, dusting himself off.

Squall crossed his arms after he stood up. “It was fine when I went down it before.”

Cloud shook his head, feeling a fond grin form on his lips.

+

  
  


After Aerith and Tifa returned from their vacation, things resumed as normal for life in Radiant Garden—except Cloud and Squall still found reasons to meet up several times a week, just the two of them. 

It was only a few weeks after their trip to Traverse Town that Squall called to yet again arrange a time for him and Cloud to meet. 

“Hey, I know it’s short notice, but do you have time to meet me at noon today in the central square?” Squall asked.

“Yeah, I’m not working. Should be fine,” Cloud replied.

“Okay, cool. See you then.”

“See you.”

After Cloud hung up the phone, he flinched in surprise as he saw Aerith staring at him with a smirk as she sat next to him on the couch.

“Going on another date?” Aerith asked.

“Shut up, it’s not a date…” Cloud grumbled as the blood rose to his cheeks.

“You and Squall have been meeting up solo to go eat, drink coffee, or do who knows what for weeks now! You two are dating!” Aerith said with a big grin on her face.

“It’s two friends meeting up to spend time together… Is that so weird?” Cloud asked.

Aerith raised an eyebrow. “It is when it’s just the two of you hanging out every other few days.”

Cloud got up to walk to the kitchen, but Aerith followed him.

“Going anywhere special?” she asked.

“No.”

“Doing anything special?”

“No.”

“Then why do you look so happy?” Aerith asked as she smiled at Cloud.

“I don’t…!” Cloud said, turning away as the blush deepened on his cheeks.

“Oh, leave him alone… He just enjoys spending time with his best friend, Squall,” Tifa said as she walked into the kitchen.

“Hey… Tifa, you’re still my best friend,” Cloud protested.

Tifa smiled at him. “But I’m not the one you go out with multiple times a week…”

“We live together,” Cloud muttered. “Why would I need to go out with you?”

Tifa chuckled. “Okay, sure… _They’re totally dating_ ,” she whispered to Aerith.

“I heard that,” Cloud mumbled.

+

Cloud was early to meet Squall at the central square, but much to his surprise, Squall was late. Squall was usually never late. When he finally showed up, he looked like he was in a hurry as he half-ran the few remaining yards to meet up with Cloud, dressed in his SeeD uniform. 

“Hey… Sorry I’m late!” Squall said, a bit out of breath.

“It’s fine,” Cloud said. “So, what did you want to meet up to do?”

“Nothing, actually…” Squall said as he awkwardly glanced toward his shoes. “Cloud, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Cloud’s chest tightened—that didn’t sound good. He stared at Squall as he waited for him to continue, and Squall heaved a big sigh.

“I’m being reassigned. I’m leaving Radiant Garden.”

Cloud’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Our SeeD mission in Radiant Garden was only meant to last a year. There was always a chance we would be reassigned or remain, depending on how well we did,” Squall explained as he glanced down. “Well, Zell and I apparently did such a good job, SeeD is no longer needed in Radiant Garden.”

“When are you supposed to leave?” Cloud asked.

“In thirteen days. They don’t usually give that much notice for these types of things.”

“Thirteen days? You have to pick up your whole life, and they give you only two weeks to figure it out?” Cloud muttered. “That’s…stupid!”

Squall pursed his lips and shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

Cloud sighed. “That doesn’t make it fair.”

Cloud and Squall were silent for a good, long moment until Cloud asked, “Well…where are you going?”

“Far from here. I won’t be able to visit often, if at all,” Squall answered.

Cloud frown deepened as he took in the news. If Squall at least had been within driving distance, then maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. “So… this is it?”

Squall gave him a sad look, but then he softly laughed. “…Bet you would have been really happy to see me go a few months ago, huh?”

Cloud frowned at him.

“Sorry… just trying to lighten the mood,” Squall said as he glanced down.

Cloud sighed. “Well, it felt like we just started to…”

“I know…” Squall sighed and turned around, resting his back along the wall. “This has been the first SeeD assignment in a town where I wish I could stay.”

_Then stay!_ Cloud wanted to shout. But he remained quiet.

“Anyway… I wanted to tell you first and it didn’t feel right to say over the phone,” Squall continued. “I’ll go tell Tifa and Aerith later, but I’m worried they’ll cry…so I want to prepare myself for that a bit. Also, Zell wants to hold a farewell ball next weekend. I usually hate them, but…you’re all invited to the ball, of course.”

Cloud stared ahead of him, barely processing what Squall told him.

“Sorry, I don’t have a lot of time today, so I’ll have to leave right now. I’ll see you around?” Squall asked.

“Sure,” Cloud replied. Though it felt like his body was on autopilot because in his mind he was still frozen in disbelief. Squall was going to be gone from Radiant Garden in less than two weeks.

“See you, then.” Squall gave Cloud what looked like a forced smile. As he walked away, Cloud could only stare at him in silence as the ache grew in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one more part to this fic and it will be the final chapter! Thanks to everyone who has kept up with this story, I'll try to update soon! :)


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